Turkey's ruling party may face new closure case

07/08/2008

ANKARA, Turkey -- Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya plans to file another case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and demand its closure or the banning of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from politics, local media reported on Wednesday (August 6th). Yalcinkaya is expected to file after the explanation for the Constitutional Court's recent ruling concerning the AKP becomes public. On July 30th, the court ruled against a ban, rejecting arguments by Yalcinkaya, who says the AKP undermines secularism. The court, however, issued a "serious warning" to the ruling party. Local media reports suggest Yalcinkaya will use those grounds in his second attempt. (Hurriyet, Vatan, Taraf, NTV - 06/08/08)