A woman casts her vote for a referendum at a school in Istanbul, Oct. 21.

ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 21--Turks head to the polls on Sunday to vote in a referendum on whether the president should be elected by universal suffrage, amid signs that public indifference to the reform may lead to low turnout.
Some 42.6 million voters are registered to cast their “yes“ or “no“ ballots in 134,000 polling stations on the constitutional reform package that provides for a two-round popular vote--instead of a parliamentary vote--to elect the head of state, reported AFP.
The reforms also allow for presidents to serve two five-year terms instead of the current single, seven-year term, and set general elections for every four years instead of the current five.
Observers say the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which drew up the reform package, is likely to garner the necessary support in Sunday’s vote, which comes less than three months after a general election that gave the party a second five-year term in power.
But all indications are that voter participation will be low.
With no public debate on the issue, media interviews with people on the street show that Turks have very little knowledge on the actual content of the reforms and that some do not even know that a referendum is taking place.
The head of Turkey’s Electoral Council said Saturday that low turnout would not have consequences on the referendum’s outcome, but could raise questions of legitimacy.

SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 21--South Korea’s government has decided to extend the stay of its troops in Iraq until next year but will cut the size of its contingent in half, defense officials said Sunday.
“The withdrawal of troops from Iraq, originally due by the end of December, will be postponed until next year,“ a defense ministry spokesman told AFP.
“But the number will be reduced from the current 1,200 to 600.“
The spokesman said President Roh Moo-Hyun’s cabinet would likely debate the measure on Tuesday before sending it to parliament next week for approval.
Seoul’s Yonhap news agency, quoting an unnamed source, said Sunday South Korean troops would withdraw from Iraq “by the end of next year“ but defense ministry officials said the exact timing has yet to be decided.
South Korea in 2004 sent about 3,500 troops to Iraq, the third-largest foreign contingent after the United States and Britain.
Washington asked South Korea to extend the stay of its troops, but many lawmakers here have expressed reservations over a prolonged mission in the war-ravaged country.
The size of the force has been progressively cut amid ongoing domestic opposition to the deployment.
Parliament has repeatedly endorsed Seoul’s military presence in Iraq, but with presidential polls looming in December and general elections set for next year, it remained unclear whether they would approve another extension.
South Korean troops have been based in the relatively peaceful Kurdish capital of Arbil, engaging in reconstruction, not combat missions, but fears have mounted at home for the safety of the troops.

HONG KONG,
Oct. 21--Hundreds of Buddhist monks, celebrating a US award for the Dalai Lama, clashed with police for four days in the capital of Tibet, the far-west Himalayan region of China, a Hong Kong newspaper said on Sunday.
China, which reviles the Dalai Lama as a separatist, has angrily denounced the award of the Congressional Gold Medal as a “farce“ that would hurt relations between Beijing and Washington, reported Reuters.
After the clash, about 1,100 monks and dozens of visitors were not allowed to leave the Zhaibung monastery in Lhasa which was surrounded by 3,000 armed police, the Ming Pao newspaper said.
It did not say if there had been any arrests or injuries, but there had also been clashes at a nearby monastery and police had set up checkpoints on the main roads in the area.
It gave no further details.
Tibet has been ruled by China since communist troops invaded in 1950, and the government deals harshly with Tibetans who press for greater political and religious freedom.
US President George W. Bush awarded the Dalai Lama the medal on Wednesday and called on China to open talks with him.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Oct. 21--Voters in Kyrgyzstan began turning out at polling stations Sunday to cast ballots in a referendum to adopt a new constitution that would weaken the president’s powers in a bid to resolve years of political upheaval in this Central Asian state.
The proposed reform, which would strengthen the parliament in the former Soviet republic, is widely expected to be adopted although analysts have warned that turnout may be low for the snap referendum, reported AFP.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had promised to reform the constitution after coming to power in 2005 on the back of a popular revolt that toppled his predecessor Askar Akayev.
Kyrgyzstan is located at a strategic crossroads and hosts US and Russian military bases.
It is seen as a relatively democratic country surrounded by authoritarian regimes in Central Asia.
But its politics has been tumultuous since Akayev’s ouster, as the history of the constitution reforms shows.
Bakiyev initially opposed the reforms, which limit the president’s ability to dismiss parliament, switch to proportional representation in parliament, and give lawmakers more power in forming the government.
The president reluctantly accepted them after a week of protests.
But after they were annulled in September by the country’s constitutional court for procedural violations, Bakiyev came out in support of them and called the referendum.
Fifty percent of the electorate has to vote for the referendum to be valid.
The association of Kyrgyz political scientists said that the reform would probably be adopted but added that it could lead to “political conflict“ if the authorities boost turnout figures.
“That would lead to the results not being recognized by political forces and would make the plebiscite illegitimate,“ the association said in a statement.

BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, Oct. 21--Palestinian gunmen planned to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when he came to the West Bank in August to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a security chief told Israel’s Cabinet on Sunday, a meeting participant said.
Shin Bet security police director Yuval Diskin said gunmen loyal to Abbas’ Fatah movement planned to attack Olmert’s convoy as it entered the West Bank town of Jericho on Aug. 6, AP said.
Israel notified Palestinian authorities and they arrested an unspecified number of Fatah militants, the participant said.
It was not clear why Israel, whose military operates freely in the West Bank, left it up to Palestinian security sources to apprehend would-be assassins if they thought Olmert’s life was in danger--or why they allowed the trip to proceed.
Although the men admitted they planned the attack, the Palestinian Authority released them last week, the meeting participant said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details of closed-door meetings.
Olmert’s office has protested their release to Abbas, he said. But Tawfiq Tirawi, the Palestinian intelligence chief, denied they were freed.
Another Palestinian security official confirmed that Israel notified the Palestinian Authority that a militant cell planned to target Olmert, and that an unspecified number of militants were arrested. But he said that while the gunmen said they considered attacking the Israeli leader, they had no operational plan.
An Israeli government spokeswoman had no immediate information on the assassination attempt, and it was not clear how close the militants got to carrying out the plot.
It also was not clear why Israel waited 2 1/2 months to disclose the alleged assassination plan.
While Abbas oversees the official Palestinian security forces, he has little control over pro-Fatah armed groups, which frequently act counter to his efforts to reconcile Israel and the Palestinians.
The meeting was Olmert’s first with Abbas on Palestinian soil after seven years of bloody fighting, and the location was seen as significant as the content.

Activists of former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party shout slogans in Peshawar against the suicide bombing targeting Bhutto's homecoming procession, Oct. 21.

KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct. 21--Hundreds of protesters burned tyres and hurled stones in southern Pakistan for a third day Sunday over an attack on former premier Benazir Bhutto’s convoy that killed 139 people.
Around 10 groups, each of around 50 people, took to the streets in a stronghold of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party in the southern city of Karachi, an AFP correspondent said.
Some hurled rocks at passing vehicles while others torched piles of tyres, sending thick clouds of smoke into the air in the run-down Lyari neighborhood of the port city.
Similar protests took place in the cities of Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sukkur and other native districts of the victims of Thursday’s bombing, which came only hours after Bhutto returned from eight years in exile, officials said.
“There are reports about mild protests and burning of tyres in different districts but all these are largely peaceful,“ Sindh province home secretary Ghulam Mohammad Mohtarram told AFP.
“The situation is under control and there are no reports of violence. Most shops remained closed on Sunday but the total closure is not caused by any violence,“ he added.
The streets of Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial hub with a population of 12 million people, were largely deserted, witnesses said.
Mohtarram said authorities were still investigating the blast “but no clues are yet to be available to proceed on.“
He said he had no information about three people whom a senior investigator said were being questioned for possible links to one of the two blasts which hit Bhutto’s homecoming caravan.