The 58 per cent support for constitutional reform in Turkey's referendum is a welcome landmark for further strengthening Turkey's democracy.
The wide package of measures will give the elected government more authority, and weaken both the military and courts, that have a history of stopping governments which they decide have offended Turkey's secular spirit. The key changes are that military personnel will be accountable in civilian courts rather than their own military courts, and Parliament will have more power to appoint judges.
The poll was treated as a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's popular AK Party, which has its roots in an Islamist movement. The AK Party and its various predecessors have clashed continually with the courts and military authorities, but once in power, AKP has been an effective modernising force.
This has made it into an important model for the whole Islamic world, showing how an Islamist movement can work within a democracy and remain true to both the democratic spirit as well as its Islamic roots. The challenge of how to bring Islamist movements into the existing systems is common to many Muslim countries, and fear of Islamic radicalism has tinged this debate. Turkeys' experience offers a hopeful way forward.
The referendum vote gives Erdogan a valuable springboard for the elections due before next summer which could give him a third term. The vote has also impressed both the US and European Union, which have welcomed the result. One of the results of this vote is that the EU should now accelerate Turkey's application to join the EU.
The country meets many of the conditions of membership, and so should be able to join quickly. This in turn would reinforce Turkey's important global position as a full member of both Europe and the Middle East.
