Turkey's prime minister said on Friday his party would hold talks with the opposition next week on proposed changes to the constitution, which secularists see as a direct challenge by the Islamic-leaning government, according to Reuters. The ruling AK Party has said it will seek to win parliamentary approval for the changes -- a requirement for Turkey's European Union membership bid -- but has warned opponents it could hold a referendum to push through reforms. "Parliament has the authority, the will and the strength to pass these reforms. I want to believe the opposition will behave with common sense. This is a very urgent need for Turkey, " Tayyip Erdogan told AK Party officials in a speech. "Our colleagues will ask for appointments from opposition parties and will share the contents of the reforms next week." The AK Party, which has its roots in political Islam, says changes are needed to curb powers of a conservative judiciary opposed to reforms and to bring Turkey closer to EU standards. Critics accuse the AK Party, which has a huge majority in parliament, of using liberal reform as a cover for the encroachment of religious rule, and have threatened to take any changes to the charter to the Constitutional Court. The AK Party denies it has an Islamist agenda. Investors are closely monitoring how hard the government wants to push the changes, which could pit it against a secular elite with strongholds in the judiciary and the military. Any attempt at constitutional reforms could precipitate a snap election at a time the emerging economy is pulling out of a steep recession but Erdogan has ruled out an early vote. A general election is due by July next year, and AK is widely expected to win a third term, but there remain doubts over whether it will be able to govern alone again. Changes to Turkey's constitution, a charter ratified in 1982 following a military coup two years earlier, are a key requirement for Turkey's EU membership bid. The government has not unveiled its proposed reforms, but the justice minister has said they would include changing the way judges are appointed and making it harder to ban political parties, along with possible reform of the Constitutional Court. Turkish media has reported the government plans to include changes to allow leaders of a 1980 coup to be put on trial. Investors, who favour the AK's market-friendly policies, fear the government's push to reform the judiciary could provoke a fresh attempt to ban the party. In 2008 the AK narrowly avoided closure by the Constitutional Court after a case was brought against it by the chief prosecutor. It brought months of political paralysis and wiped out billions of dollars from Turkish markets.
