Last week was pretty rich with events. First, holy month Ramadan has finished and Ramadan Holidays have come. Ramazan Bayramı, or Şeker Bayramı («Holiday of Sweets»), how people like to call it, is one of the most favorite holidays of Turks. This holiday last for 3 days and comes right after the month of Ramadan. On the last week of Ramadan people clean their homes, buy new clothes and a lot of sweets. Last day of Ramadan all the Turkey moves: younger members of the family go to see elder ones and to kiss their hand as a token of respect. The ones who stay at their cities go for a holiday shopping, visit the graves of their deceased friends and relatives.
The second name of this holiday, “Şeker Bayramı”, comes from the tradition of treating guests with sweets: candies, Turkish Delight and baklava; also children, gathering in big crowds, walk together from one door to another, congratulating everybody with a holiday and collecting sweets from their neighbors, like children do on Halloween.
During this holidays children have more fun than adults, so elder people, not feeling enough of the holiday’s spirit, have a habit to say: “Where are those good old Ramadan Holidays!” But nevertheless usually these three days are very peaceful and happy for all the Turks.
The second big event is a silver medal finish of 2010 FIBA World Championship, which will be recorded Turkey’s best achievement in team sports. Turkey lost to the United States 81-64 in the final, and though they call it “best-ever showing in a world championship, if not the whole of Turkish sporting history”, Turkish basketball team, called by its fans “12 Giant Men” (“12 Dev”), frankly speaking, played not as good as on previous match with Serbia, but their opponent was really strong.
The last, but, maybe, most important event of last week was a referendum in Turkey, and its results, showing that the changes in Turkish constitution, offered by government, have been accepted by majority. There were 26 reforms in the package. The key issues are in following areas:
— Military: Gives officers fired by the military the right to appeal. Redefines the jurisdiction of military courts, empowers civilian courts to try military personnel for crimes against state security or against the constitutional order — such as coup attempts.
— Equality: Strengthens gender equality and bars discrimination against children, the elderly, the disabled and veterans.
— Privacy: Recognizes the right to protection of personal information and access to official personal records.
— Freedoms: Restricts travel bans imposed on individuals.
— Labor: Allows membership in more than one union in a workplace. Recognizes the right to collective bargaining for civil servants and other state employees. Removes bans on politically motivated strikes.
— Parliament: Ensures elected lawmakers stay in Parliament if their political party is disbanded by a court decision.
— Constitutional Court: Increases the number of judges on the Constitutional Court from 11 to 17 and gives power to Parliament to appoint some of them. Recognizes the right of individual appeals to the court.
— Judiciary: Increases the number of members on the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), which oversees the appointments of judges and prosecutors in the country, from seven to 22. Opens the way for appeals of decisions to remove them from the profession.