Turkish PM steps back over bill

Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan says he is considering only partially freezing a bill designed to restructure the Turkish court system,dismissing rumors that the proposal could be entirely suspended.

The bill would hand back wide authority to the justice minister reversing a referendum in 2010 which created so-called super judges.

The government has been trying to tighten control over the court system since a corruption scandal resulted in the arrest of businessmen close to Erdogan and three ministers’ sons last December.

The scandal has drawn criticism from the EU, which Turkey has been looking to join for decades.

Our euronews correspondent said: “The crisis in the judiciary has been averted for now, after government and opposition parties agreed to freeze the proposal of an important amendment. The option of a constitutional change is now on the agenda again.”