A senior Turkish judge has launched a scathing attack on the country's constitution and called for wide-ranging reform.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Sami Selcuk, said the current constitution, which was introduced after a military coup in 1980, had almost no legitimacy.

He pulled no punches in his outspoken criticism, which echoed remarks made earlier in the year by the head of the Constitutional Court.

The influence of the military was questioned

But this was the strongest public call for reform yet heard from such a senior state official.

Chief Justice Selcuk said the Turkish constitution was an obstacle to democracy and it had to be changed.

He sketched a vision of two Turkeys - one dynamic and forward-looking, the other a clumsy and suspicious state which did not trust its own people.

He said Turkey could not enter a new century with a constitution whose legitimacy was almost zero.

Writers jailed

Chief Justice Selcuk lamented the fact that so many writers and journalists had been imprisoned for expressing their views on topics such as the Kurdish rebellion or political Islam.

The state, he said, should protect the expression of all ideas.

Prime Minister Ecevit: "An important speech"

Most of Turkey's political elite were sitting in the audience as he spoke. The Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, described it as a very important speech which everyone should consider carefully.

The chief justice attacked head-on the traditional notion of a strong centralised system in which the state has more rights than the individual.

By implication he also attacked the influence which Turkey's powerful military wields over the political process.

Just a few days ago the chief of the general staff called for greater government action against political Islam and urged people to think of the state and the nation as one.