As if Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party didn’t already have enough on its hands — with a pending case under which they could be banned for undermining the republic’s secular principles — now the country’s Constitutional Court has blocked the government’s effort to lift the headscarf ban in universities. While a big setback for Erdogan, the ruling angered some Turkish women; a few hundred protested in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Friday.

Now the speaker of the parliament, Koksal Toptan, is suggesting that the Constitutional Court’s power be curbed with a new constitution. Agence France-Presse reports on a news conference today:

“‘This decision has raised questions over the separation of powers. It has led to serious concern over the development of our democracy,’ said Toptan, who has links to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), but is officially neutral.


‘I believe it will be beneficial to debate a new constitution and the bicameral system,’ he added. ‘Such a system will reduce the load on the Constitutional Court and allow it to work more comfortably.’”

Needless to say, the continuing strife over the country’s secularism effects Turkey’s campaign to join the EU and even the lira. The military, avowed defenders of the secular republic established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, could even step into the fray if things get really out of hand.

(Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)