September 13, 2010 11:46 AM

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Turkish voters approve sweeping constitutional reforms

Turkish voters have approved a sweeping package of constitutional reforms by a wide margin. The changes were intended to bring Turkey’s Constitution in line with European standards of law and democracy, but were widely viewed by voters and politicians as a referendum on the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In a live television broadcast after the results, Mr. Erdogan said, the ‘yes’ verdict in referendum is a result of nation’s longing for democracy. But opponents of the changes describe them as an orchestrated power grab aimed at undermining the secular order established by the republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in 1923, and giving religious conservatives power over the military and judiciary.

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