An independent Turkish judiciary - traditionally the guarantor of secularism - will be weakened substantially as a result of a referendum held yesterday that will grant the government of Prime Minister Erdogan unprecedented opportunities to interefere.

Fox Business News:

Turkey's ruling AK Party on Monday celebrated victory in a referendum on constitutional reform likely to boost its chances of winning a third term in power at an election due within 10 months.

No sooner had Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in Sunday's plebiscite than he stoked Turkish secularists' worst fears by serving notice that the AK, whose roots lie in political Islam, would start work on a new constitution.

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Opponents fear an emboldened AK Party will unleash a hidden Islamist agenda if it wins another term in an election due by next July, though Erdogan denies any plan to roll back modern Turkey's official secularism.

Many reforms approved in Sunday's poll were uncontroversial, but changes to the way senior judges areselected have raised concern that the judiciary will lose its independence.

Critics believe the AK government will push through legislation without fear of the Constitutional Court blocking its way, as it did in 2008 when it struck down moves to lift a ban on women in headscarves attending university.