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Turkey: Erdogan moves to limit army power
June 28, 2013, 8:13 am

Protesters carry a wounded demonstrator as clashes with police continue in Istanbul [Getty Images]

Protesters carry a wounded demonstrator during clashes with police in Istanbul [Getty Images]

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is looking to amend an article of the Armed Forces charter used in the past by the military to justify coups as defence of public order.

The government has submitted proposals to parliament to amend article 35 of the charter, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters on Thursday.

The Turkish parliament will discuss the bill in October.

Turkey has seen massive protests and rioting against what many have termed an “authoritarian” Erdogan.

The Turkish Police have been accused of being heavy handed in dispersing demonstrations against the development of an Istanbul park.

In what is seen as a crackdown on social media that allegedly fueled the protests, the Erdogan government this week asked Twitter to hand over data so it could look for “conspirators”.

Twitter and Facebook have both warned against planned legislation that would force them to share more data with the Turkish government.

With inputs from Agencies