Turkey should be ready for a tough Council of Europe report on charter changes

If there are no last-minute changes, the Council of Europe's Venice Commission is expected to release its report on Turkey's constitutional amendment package on March 13.

The Venice Commission, an advisory board of constitutional law experts, was tasked with scrutinizing the 18-article package by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The report will be important as it will provide a professional, outside analysis of the package's content. 

According to German media outlets, reporting a draft version, the report says the proposed changes to the constitution will place Turkey "on the road to an autocracy and a one-person regime." It also criticizes Turkey for undertaking such significant changes under the state of emergency, German media reported. 

Turkey's initial reaction to the Venice Commission has not been delayed. After parts of the report were leaked to the German media, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ was quick to slam the Venice Commission for preparing such a report, for not advising while the changes were being debated in parliament, and for leaking it to the media. 

"The meaning of the preparation of this report and its presentation to the Council of Europe is to affect the referendum process in Turkey, to encourage people to say 'No' in the referendum," Bozdağ said.      

This swift reaction, even before the release of the report, gives an idea of what the Turkish government's response will be once the long and comprehensive report is made public. There are unconfirmed reports that Ankara has requested the suspension of the release of the report. 

The report will be important from a number of perspectives: 

1.It will provide an important asset for the opposition camp's "No"...