Senior Turkish judges called proposed legal reforms unconstitutional Monday, fuelling fears of a clash between Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan's Islamic leaning government and the country's secular old elite.

Critics accuse the ruling 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 constitution to the Constitutional Court.

The AK Party says the changes are needed to curb the powers of an entrenched judiciary and to bring Turkey closer to democratic norms needed to support the country's bid for EU membership. It also denies it has an Islamist agenda.

"We are trying to bring structures of the modern world to Turkey," Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin told journalists in Ankara.

Judge Hasan Gerceker, chief of the Supreme Court of Appeals, branded the reforms "unconstitutional" in remarks broadcast on the NTV news channel.

"The government should avoid actions that could damage the principles of separation of powers and independence of the judiciary," Judge Gerceker said.

The government has begun lobbying opposition parties for support and has warned that it could hold a referendum to push through reforms if it cannot muster the two-thirds majority needed for parliament to approve the reform package.

"Turkey cannot continue with this constitution," Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek told reporters in Ankara. "These changes have to happen."

Investors are closely following developments, fearing they could increase political tensions and lead to early elections, due by July 2011.

Underlying investor's nervousness over the brewing trouble, the lira lost more than one percent in value against the dollar Monday, and bond yields rose. The benchmark share index, however, closed slightly stronger.

CIVIL COURTS FOR MILITARY

Another senior judge said the proposals "were not the answer to the problems of the judiciary."

"They are fooling around with the high court," said Kadir Ozbek, head of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), which appoints senior members of courts.

The government wants to change both the composition of the HSYK and change the way judges are appointed.

It also wants to make it harder to ban political parties, and pass responsibility to the president for appointing most of the Constitutional Court's judges.

The EU has criticised Turkey's political parties law, under which almost 20 parties have been banned since the constitution was adopted in 1982 following a coup.

The AK Party itself narrowly survived a court attempt in 2008 to close it down on the grounds that it contravened the country's secular constitution.

Gerceker singled out for criticism a proposed amendment that would make it harder to close down political parties.

He said making any decision to ban a party dependent on parliamentary approval was contrary to the principle of separation of powers.

"We sense that the constitutional package is aimed at decreasing the power of the judiciary. We are definitely objecting to this," Gerceker said.

The government also aims to curb the influence of the once-untouchable military, which along with the judiciary is a stronghold of secularism.

The proposals include a measure to allow military personnel to be put on trial in civilian courts for crimes committed against the security of the state and the constitutional order.

Dozens of officers, including retired and serving generals, have been charged in civilian courts in recent weeks in connection to alleged plots to unseat the AK government.

The government also proposed an amendment to strip leaders of the 1980 military coup of their immunity from prosecution.

At least 23 people were killed when floods swept the Turkish city of Istanbul, swamping houses, turning highways into fast-flowing rivers and drowning seven women in a minibus that was taking them to work.

Military helicopters hovered over districts on the European side of Turkey's largest city on Wednesday after two days of the heaviest rain in 80 years. Rescue workers put out planks and ladders to help car and truck drivers, stranded in fast-flowing waters, reach the safety of bridges and high land.

CNN Turk television showed scenes of white blankets covering the bodies of people found in the western Halkali neighbourhood near Ataturk International airport. Airport officials said there was no disruption to flights.

"My friend got stuck in the truck after the water rose all at once. The vehicle stopped working after filling with water. We rescued him with a winch," Kamil Coskun told in the Ikitelli district.

Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler told a news conference at least 23 people had been killed over two days. Eight were still missing.

Istanbul's ancient district of Sultanahmet, with its mosques, the palaces of the waterfront and Beyoglu's area of narrow streets were largely unaffected.

"The incidents in China are, simply put, a genocide. There's no point in interpreting this otherwise," Erdogan said.

Rioting between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese in Xinjiang has killed 156 people and wounded more than 1,000 in the worst ethnic violence in China in decades. Both Uighurs and the Han have claimed a higher death toll from the strife.

"We're having trouble understanding how the Chinese government would remain a bystander to this," Erdogan told reporters in comments broadcast live on NTV television. "We want the Chinese administration, with which our bilateral ties are continuously improving, to show sensitivity."

Muslim Turkey shares linguistic and religious links with Uighurs, and Turkish nationalists see Xinjiang as the easternmost frontier of Turkic ethnicity. Thousands of Uighur immigrants live in Turkey.

Turkey has sought to boost ties with China, the world's third-biggest economy. President Abdullah Gul last month became the first Turkish president to visit China in 15 years, signing $1.5 billion worth of trade deals, according to Turkish media.

Turkey's Industry Minister Thursday called on Turks to boycott Chinese goods to protest the violence in Xinjiang, but a spokesman said this was the minister's personal view and not government policy.

Thursday, Erdogan said Turkey would grant a visa to exiled Uighur leader Rabiya Kader, who is based in the United States. Kader told Turkish television that Turkish authorities had twice denied her visa application to visit the country.

In a gruesome massacre, more than 40 people, including many women and children, were killed late Monday when masked assailants attacked a wedding party in southeastern Turkey, the semi-official Anatolian News Agency reported.
The Interior Ministry said police captured eight gunmen along with their weapons after an intense security operation in the region near the city of Mardin. The dead included six children, 16 women and 22 men.
Observing Muslim practice, many of the men had gathered for evening prayers when the attackers opened fire in the village of Bilge, 15 miles from Mardin, a witness told the private NTV television network.
A report from the Haberturk news agency quoted witnesses as saying the attackers herded party-goers into one room and opened fire.
Preliminary investigations pointed to a possible feud between two families in the village, Interior Minister Besir Atalay said before heading for Mardin with Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin.
But Mr. Atalay declined to call the attack a blood feud — a phenomenon in Turkey’s southeast region which usually involves exacting vengeance for the murder of a relative by killing a male member of the murderer’s family. Such feuds have cost many lives in the past.
Over the years, successive Turkish governments have taken legal measures, including stiffer prison terms, for such crimes. The authorities have also sent officials to mediate conflicts in efforts to curb the practice.
The dead included Sevgi Celebi, the bride-to-be, and Habib Ari, her fiancé, along with Mr. Ari’s four-year-old sister, Ruken.

A day after he formally began his outreach to the Muslim world with a speech before Turkey’s Parliament, President Obama prepared to wind up his maiden overseas trip as head of state on Tuesday after declaring that the United States “is not and will never be at war with Islam.”

In this city, known for its skyline of minarets, glittering waterways and a cosmopolitan history reaching back centuries on the divide between Europe and Asia, the president met religious leaders from the Jewish faith, Islam and various Christian churches, and planned visits to historical sites, Reuters reported.

He also scheduled a town-hall meeting with young people, repeating an event he used to strong effect during an encounter with French and German students in Strasbourg last week before a summit meeting with NATO leaders.

Setting out his perspective on America’s relationship with the Islamic world, Mr. Obama told the Turkish Parliament on Monday that: “America’s relationship with the Muslim community, the Muslim world, cannot and will not just be based upon opposition to terrorism,” he said. “We seek broader engagement based upon mutual interest and mutual respect.”

Showing more self-confidence each day on his debut overseas trip as president, Mr. Obama, in addressing a majority Muslim country for the first time, appeared to have prepared carefully for one particular line in his wide-ranging speech.