Turkish lawmakers on Wednesday voted down a constitutional amendment which could have helped a controversial Islamist politician make a political comeback.
Voting in a second reading on a political reform package to help Turkey's candidacy to join the European Union, the legislators also dropped an amendment aimed at facilitating the lifting of parliamentary immunity.
The first amendment would have revised eligibility criteria to allow people convicted of "ideological or anarchic acts" to run for parliament while barring those convicted of "terrorist acts".
Of the 493 deputies present in the 550-seat house, 294 voted in favor of the amendment and 169 voted against it. The remaining deputies either cast blank votes, abstained or their votes were invalid.
The amendment was widely interpreted as a means to pave the way for Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- the leader of Turkey's newest pro-Islamic party, the Justice and Development party (AK) -- to make an uncontested return to politics.
In August, Turkey's chief prosecutor asked the constitutional court to suspend Erdogan's chairmanship of AK on the grounds he had been banned from politics over a 1998 conviction for inciting religious hatred.
Erdogan argues that an amnesty law which came into effect in December ended the ban, but state prosecutors insist that several other legal provisions still bar him from politics.
The constitutional court is still to rule in the case.
The second rejected amendment aimed to speed up protracted procedures on lifting parliamentary immunity, under which many parliament members facing criminal charges have been able to remain in parliament for years.
The article would have set a period of three months for the completion of the legal procedures.
It would have also abolished a provision, under which lawmakers stripped of their immunity are able to regain their legal privileges through re-election to parliament.
Out of the 483 deputies who took part in the vote, 295 voted in favor and 166 against the change, while the remaining either abstained or cast blank or invalid votes.
The results mean that both changes, which needed 367 votes to be adopted, are dropped from a 37-item constitutional reform package to strengthen Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
The parliament will hold a third and final vote before the weekend on the overall package.
Among reforms which have been adopted in the two rounds of voting are an article abolishing the death penalty except in times of war and for terrorist crimes, and another which would pave the way for Turkey's Kurdish minority to use their own language in broadcasting and publication.
Other reforms would make it more difficult to ban political parties and expand freedom of thought and expression.
The government wants to have the reforms adopted before EU executives wrap up an annual report on Turkey's progress towards EU membership in November.
Turkey, which was declared an EU membership candidate in December 1999, has to overhaul its crippled democracy before it can begin accession talks, but the country has so far failed to take any major steps -- ANKARA (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
