Turkish people vote for or against a package of government-sponsored constitutional amendments on September 12, the 30th anniversary of a military cup in Turkey.

Nearly 49.5 million citizens will cast vote in the referendum. Voting has already begun at border gates on August 3.

Constitutional amendments include change in structure of Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors, as well as the Constitutional Court, country's top judiciary body.

Turkey's Constitutional Court has annulled parts of the package in July, rejecting to overturn the entire package in a move to upset country's main opposition party, CHP, which had appealed to the top court to scrape-off the package as a whole.

Opposition parties CHP and MHP accuse the government of attempting to politicize the judiciary and subordinate the judiciary to the executive branch. BDP announced that it would boycott the referendum.

However, the ruling Justice & Development (AK) Party denies accusations and argues that the law aims at making Turkey more democratic in line with EU standards.

The package abolishes the provisional article 15 of the constitution which does not allow trial of the members of the National Security Council formed after the military coup in 1980, the ban on right to general strike; and paves the way for a citizen to become a member of more than one labor union, and  civil servants and other public officials the right to collective bargaining.

It also paves the way for trial of parliament speaker, chief of general staff, and senior commanders by the High Tribunal on charges of crimes they commit regarding their positions.

Today's Zaman