Turkey's government will submit to parliament before the end of the month draft constitutional reforms that have riled the old secular elite, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said Wednesday. The government has said the reforms are designed to bring the Muslim European Union candidate country in line with European standards. “We will present the proposed constitutional amendments to parliament before the end of the month,” Cicek, who serves as government spokesman, told reporters. The government lacks the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to amend the constitution without other parties' support and has threatened to call a national referendum to push through the changes. Cicek's comment suggests the AK Party is determined to go ahead with the plan despite fears of a clash between Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government and an establishment suspicious of its religious bent. Senior judges have warned that the changes would encroach on the principle of separation of powers.
