The proposed constitutional amendments in Turkey will move the country even further away from democracy. The Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament regrets the adoption of the 18 constitutional amendments in the Turkish Parliament over the weekend. If the package will be approved by referendum - expected to be held in April - it will lead to further authoritarianism and the erosion of democratic checks and balances in Turkey, which is an EU candidate country.

Victor Boştinaru, S&D vice-president for foreign affairs, said:   

"Concentrating more and more power in the hands of one institution, namely the presidency, while weakening the democratic checks in a society, will further weaken the rule of law in Turkey.

"There is no question here of expressing any preference for either a parliamentary or a presidential system in any of the candidate countries. However, in this specific case, both opposition parties and civil society in Turkey have expressed the concern that the adoption of the current constitutional amendment package would lead to the erosion of the separation of powers and the abolition of parliamentary accountability. This is detrimental for the Turkish democracy and could lead the country moving further away from the EU’s values."

Knut Fleckenstein, S&D coordinator for foreign affairs, said:

"While there is large opposition to the proposed presidential system, a narrow majority in the Turkish Grand National Assembly enabled the referendum. The circumstances under which the votes in parliament took place, were very negative: the country is still under a state of emergency, 11 opposition parliamentarians are in jail, and no public discussions on the constitutional changes have been allowed. Furthermore, the brawls that took place among MPs, even resulting in the hospitalization of three deputies, were a disgrace for parliamentary democracy.

"In this climate of fear and purges, it is highly inappropriate to hold a referendum on such substantial constitutional changes - which will have a dramatic impact on the way the country is governed."