Prosecutor seeks to shut down Turkey's ruling party

17/03/2008

The battle between Turkish secularists and the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has flared again, with chief prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya demanding that the prime minister and 70 others be banned from politics.

By Ayhan Simsek for Southeast European Times-- 17/03/08

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. [Getty Images]

Turkey's chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, has filed an indictment with the country's constitutional court, asking it to shut down the ruling party. He charges that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has become a "focal point" for activities that undermine secularism, and that the party has a "hidden agenda" aimed at transforming Turkey into an Islamist state.

The prosecutor demanded that 71 party members, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, be banned from politics for five years.

Yalcinkaya's move is the latest round in a bitter battle between the AKP-led government and the country's secular forces, which include the army, judiciary and academia. If the case goes forward, the vote of seven judges would be enough to close down the party. Eight of the 11 judges on the bench were appointed by former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a staunch secularist.

The AKP describes itself as a conservative democratic party. It won a solid victory in last year's elections, receiving 47% of the vote. Last month, to the dismay of secularists, it succeeded in lifting a ban on wearing Islamic headscarves at universities.

In his 162-page indictment, Yalcinkaya said the removal of the ban was a key step sought by political Islamists. He also listed various statements by Erdogan that made reference to Islam and Islamic law. These statements, the prosecutor said, revealed a planned strategy by the AKP to turn Turkey into a theocratic state.

Yalcinkaya also cited government efforts to ban the sale of alcohol in restaurants and bars owned by sports clubs. Just after the indictment was filed, however, a minister in Erdogan's cabinet said the ban would be delayed for a year.

In an address Sunday, Erdogan declared his loyalty to secularism. He also challenged the prosecutor's move, saying efforts to use the judiciary to disband the party were undemocratic.

Opinion in the Turkish media has been mixed. Writing in Hurriyet, the country's leading daily, columnist Enis Berberoglu said the AKP government's policies since winning re-election have differed greatly from those in its first term. When voters backed Erdogan at the polls, Berberoglu wrote, it was because they expected him to continue a sound economic policy and move forward with EU-inspired political reforms.

"If Tayyip Erdogan continued on the way that those votes directed, accelerated his steps on the way of Europe and global economy, he wouldn't face such a case," the columnist wrote, charging that the AKP is now more interested in debating whether teenagers should be required to study the Koran.

Another prominent writer, Milliyet's Hasan Cemal, strongly opposes the case. "The Constitutional Court should reject the demand for closure and should put an end to the process of making Turkey a graveyard for political parties. It should ward off the possibility of political chaos."

At the weekend, the EU voiced concern over the new developments. "In a normal European democracy, political issues are debated in parliament and decided through the ballot box, not in the courtroom," said Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. "The executive shouldn't meddle in the court's work, while the legal system shouldn't meddle in democratic politics."