The Islamist-derived ruling AK Party of Turkey seemed to have won its constitutional battle against secularism today, in that the country’s Rapporteur has strongly recommended the Supreme Court reject Opposition appeals against new AK-sponsored amendments.

In March this year, the AK submitted to parliament a draft of constitutional changes, which were fairly obviously an attempt to reduce the independent power of the Turkish judiciary, and thus make the party’s grip on power that bit stronger. This followed a spat between the Government and the judiciary in February, after senior prosecutor Ihan Cihaner was arrested on what critics say was a trumped-up charge of belonging to an ultra-Right party. The Constitutional Bill also attempts to neuter the army, which is a powerful supporter of the secular opposition to AK, accusing it too of plotting a coup against AK. (All Turkey needs now is a fire in the Parliament building, and it’ll have the full set required for aspiring Nazis everywhere).

If there is one thing most Opposition Parties can agree upon, it is that AK fully intends to replace the judicial system with Islamic Law – hence the need to emasculate Turkish judges. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan insists that the Constitutional Bill is vital to bring Turkish law into line with that of the EU, but try as The Slog may, it is unable to find anything – even in the EU Constitution – that says the judiciary should be subordinate to the politicians….much as Brussels would dearly love that to happen.

Although there is still a tendency for Western liberals to see Turkey as a secular State a million light years away from Islamism, since the AK Party took power in 2002, that has become an increasingly unreal view. AK is an abbreviation of the Turkish for Justice and Development Party, but the organisation has strong Islamist roots.

The AK Government has moved the country towards an increasingly anti-Israel foreign policy, culminating it its hysterical reaction to the Israeli boarding of a Gaza flotilla ship last month….a security action Turkey was heavily involved in fomenting.

Within hours of the Rapporteur’s decision today, Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv unless Israel either apologised, or accepted the outcome of an international inquiry into the raid.