PACE calls on Turkey's institutions "to respect each other's competences"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Underlying the importance of "effective separation of powers", the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) called on Turkey's institutions "to respect each other's competences" and join efforts to pursue political reforms that will turn the country into a modern democracy.



Following the proposals by the rapporteur, Luc Van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD), the parliamentarians said that, regardless of its outcome, the lawsuit against the ruling party, as well as the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic, "is seriously affecting political stability in the country" and the functioning of democratic institutions. The dissolution of political parties, they said, "should be regarded as an exceptional measure to be applied only in cases where the party concerned uses violence or threatens civil peace and the democratic constitutional order."



According to the Assembly, "a comprehensive review of the law on political parties is required in order to bring this text fully into line with European standards", and the need for a new, civilian constitution altogether "has now become more evident than ever". In this regard, the government's initiative to draft a new constitution opens "a window of opportunity for a broad national debate involving all actors of society".



The Assembly asked its Monitoring Committee to intensify its post-monitoring dialogue with Turkey, closely follow the development of the democratic functioning of its state institutions and, in particular, the constitutional drafting process, and if need be "seriously consider the possibility of re-opening the monitoring procedure," PACE Communication Unit reports.