Ankara - Turkey's government decided at the weekend to return a limited amnesty law to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The move could force the head of state to ratify a measure he vetoed late last week. "We have reached the decision it would be suitable from a social perspective to present the law again to the president," the Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, said after meeting coalition partners. Mr Sezer has refused to sign the bill, describing it as unjust and divisive. However, if returned to the president unchanged, he must sign it or send it to the constitutional court for review.
Mr Sezer, a former judge, was elected to the presidency earlier this year with Mr Ecevit's backing.
The latest rejection is a setback to plans to reform Turkey's chaotic and overcrowded prison system. The amnesty would have halved the prison population, easing plans to replace large dormitory wards with smaller cells. More than 200 prisoners are on "death fasts", demanding that the government scrap the plans which they say will make them vulnerable to abuse at the hands of prison officers. Many are weakening fast, 59 days into their hunger strike.