By Sibel Utku Bila (AFP)
ANKARA - Turks voted Sunday in a referendum on bitterly divisive constitutional changes, seen as a key test of confidence in the Islamist-rooted government.
The core of the package, pushed through parliament in May by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), aims to restructure the higher echelons of Turkey's judiciary, a secularist bastion at loggerheads with the government.
The amendments also curb the powers of the once-untouchable military, already humbled amid sprawling probes into alleged plans to unseat the AKP that have landed dozens of soldiers in court.
The package has widened the rift between the AKP and its secularist opponents, who argue that the party, the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist movement, aims to control the judiciary in a quest for authoritarian power.
Newspaper headlines Sunday reflected the polarisation: "The birthday of democracy" wrote the pro-government Sabah, while the generally critical Hurriyet said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought to become an "elected sultan".
The package's approval would be a major boost for the AKP ahead of general elections next year, in which it will seek a third straight term in power.
The party, in power since 2002, insists the package will bring Turkish democracy closer to the norms of the European Union, which the country is seeking to join.
The opposition however charges that the AKP -- its democratic credentials under mounting criticism -- designed the amendments to propel cronies to senior judicial posts, control the courts and dilute the system of checks and balances.
Opinion polls have projected a tight contest to be decided by a small margin.
The results were expected several hours after polling stations close at 1400 GMT.
Some 50 million people were eligible to vote in the referendum that falls on the 30th anniversary of the 1980 military coup, which produced the current constitution, universally criticised for its oppressive spirit despite a series of amendments over the years.
The EU has welcomed the amendments as a "step in the right direction" but expressed reservations over arrangements that would increase government influence in a key body dealing with judicial appointments.
No major opposition party has lent support to the package: the main Kurdish party has called for a boycott, with the others urging a "no" vote.
The most controversial provisions modify the make-up of the Constitutional Court and the Higher Board of Judges and Prosecutors, and the way their members are elected.
The AKP narrowly escaped being outlawed by the Constitutional Court for undermining Turkey's secular system in 2008.
The top courts have also blocked a series of AKP-sponsored legislation, including a bill that would have abolished a ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities.
Erdogan has slammed the senior judiciary as "shackles on our feet."
Proponents of the amendments say the judicial elite has become a dogmatic caste enforcing authoritarian, hardline secularist and nationalist values and must be reformed.
Some secular liberals also back the package, lured by provisions that would limit the powers of military courts and abolish an article providing a judicial shield for the 1980 coup leaders.
The package also gives civil servants the right to collective bargaining, but not the right to strike, and emphasises women's and children's rights.
Voters are required to decide on all amendments with a single "yes" or "no".
Erdogan has led an aggressive campaign to drum up support for the package.
In a memorable warning, he told Turkey's top business group after it declined to take a public stand on the vote that "those who do not take sides will be sidelined."
Such outbursts, coupled by his frequent attacks on opposition media and civic groups, have fanned fears that the AKP, which led a series of EU-sought reforms in its first years in power, is growing despotic.
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