Posted on 04/01/2008 1:21:49 PM PDT by knighthawk
After close to five hours of deliberations, 11 judges of the Constitutional Court decide in a rare unanimous ruling to take up the case for closing the AKP and banning the prime minister and dozens of lawmakers from politics. The government is likely to accelerate efforts to find legal measures to block the closure
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
Turkey's top court yesterday agreed to hear a case requesting the closure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is accused of being a focal point of anti-secular activities, in a move that could further strain the political environment in the country.
“The indictment introduced by the chief prosecutor was accepted unanimously,” Osman Paksüt, deputy chairman of the 11-member Constitutional Court, told reporters after nearly four-and-half hours of deliberations. Paksüt said the decision on whether President Abdullah Gül should be included in the trial was taken in a vote that went seven to four.
Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya requested the closure of the AKP and a ban on 71 of its high-level officials from engaging in politics for five years, including President Gül [a former AKP member] and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“All actions and rhetoric of the party is aimed at establishing an Islamic society in which Islamic rules and values have priority... and then carrying out legal arrangements to move toward Shariah,” Yalçınkaya's indictment said.
The court's ruling formally launches the case against the AKP, which won 46.6 percent of the votes in last year's general elections. Founded in 2001, after the dissolution of the Virtue Party by the top court, the AKP has become the most important political party in Turkish politics since 2002.
By law, the AKP has four weeks to introduce its initial defense but can also ask for more time. Haşim Kılıç, president of the court, had earlier said the case would last around six to eight months though there is no set timeframe for the court.
According to the Constitution, a majority of seven from 11 will suffice to close down the AKP and ban its 71 figures from politics.
Political observers in Ankara argued that the voting's result on Gül's political fate could also be seen as an indicator in the future ruling by the court to shut down the AKP. Four judges of the court, Kılıç, Sacit Adalı, Serdar Özgüldür and Serruh Kaleli asked for Gül to be exempted from the trial, arguing presidents, by law, can only be prosecuted on charges of high treason.
According to the current Article 69 of the Constitution, if found responsible, the AKP could be closed or deprived of state aid.
AKP on alert
Worried by the court's ruling, the AKP will likely speed up its study to find legal measures to block the closure, thanks to its 339 lawmakers in Parliament. But the AKP still needs the backing of at least 28 more deputies from opposition parties to avoid having to go to a referendum. According to the Constitution, any constitutional amendment approved with less than 367 deputies is automatically taken to a referendum.
Erdoğan and the ministers were in a weekly cabinet meeting when the court announced the ruling. The AKP will continue to ponder the steps it can take in the party's top decision-making organ meeting that will be held today. Legal experts of the party are planning to amend several articles of the Constitution that will make party closures more difficult. AKP officials argue that the party has decided to go for broke to escape closure and could even amend the Constitution to obligate the Constitutional Court to decide on party closures unanimously.
Nihat Ergün, the AKP's deputy parliamentary group leader, said the case would affect the country's political and economic instability, and added, "we will seek the support of the opposition parties in amending articles 68 and 69 of the Constitution."
Eyes on opposition
It's not clear yet how the opposition parties will view the AKP's strategy to change the Constitution but the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) has already closed its doors to the AKP's proposals.
“Is Turkey a state of law or not? Will a punishment be given to those who violate the Constitution or not? This is the issue,” Mustafa Özyürek, deputy leader of the CHP told reporters in Parliament yesterday. He opposed the AKP's plans to take legal measures to prevent the closure and said, “these moves are illegal. The approach of ‘I have the majority, I can pass anything in Parliament' is not correct.”
The CHP's leader, Deniz Baykal, who was in Paris for the EXPO vote avoided commenting on the court's ruling.
Responsibility belongs to AKP
The MHP's deputy parliamentary group leader, Mehmet Şandır, said the responsibility of today's situation belongs to the AKP. “Everybody should respect the court process,” Şandır said. The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), which also faces a closure case and the issue has already been heard in Parliament, says it is against the disbandment but will not give a blank check to the AKP either.
Ping
A joke. The parastate of Turkey is a joke.
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