Turkish voters approved a raft of changes to the constitution in a referendum today, according to unofficial preliminary results, in what may be a key victory for prime minister Tayyip Erdogan ahead of general election due next year.
Based on unofficial tallies, Turkish news channel NTV published results showing the government holding a 60 per cent vote in favour of its reform package with 80 percent of the ballot boxes counted.
Other media outlets also showed the "Yes" vote well ahead.
If the trend holds it will mark a huge boost for prime minister Tayyip Erdogan, whose AK Party will seek to win a third term as a single party government at a general election due by July next year.
"It's better than expected, and it's a good endorsement ahead of next year's elections," said Semih Idiz, a columnist with Milliyet newspaper.
"We still don't know what the story is in the southeast, but I think the prime minister must be feeling pretty comfortable."
Though the AK Party has pushed political and economic reforms and spearheaded Turkey's drive for membership of the European Union since coming to power in 2002, the secular establishment accuses it of harbouring Islamist ambitions.
The secularist opposition does not dispute that some changes are necessary. But it says the proposals would also open the way for the AK party to take over the courts after building up a strong power base within the state during eight years in office.
With the military's once-formidable power clipped by EU-driven reforms, the high courts have become the last redoubt of a conservative secularist establishment.
The package includes 26 articles. Most are seen as progressive and uncontroversial, including one that would make the military more answerable to civilian courts.
But opponents say proposed changes to the make-up of the Constitutional Court and the High Board of Judges and Prosecutors, a state body charged with appointing magistrates, raise concerns over the future independence of the judiciary.
Reuters