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Turkey court considers party ban |
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Written by BBC
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Monday, 31 March 2008 |
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Turkey's constitutional court has decided unanimously that it can hear a case aimed at closing down the country's governing AK Party.
The chief prosecutor earlier filed a petition calling for the party to be closed for "anti-secular activities". He also wants dozens of its members, including the prime minister and president, to be banned from politics. The case revives a battle between Turkey's secularist establishment and the AK Party of devout Muslims. The case against the AKP runs to 162 pages: a long list of what the chief prosecutor says is proof the government has an Islamic agenda.
The main focus of his petition is the government's bid to relax the rules on the Islamic headscarf. The AKP recently changed the constitution, so girls could cover their heads in universities.
Staunch secularists fear that is a first step to an Islamic state - by a party whose leaders once espoused political Islam. The AKP argues the case against it is an attack on democracy.
It won 47% of the vote at the last elections, and most opinion polls show strong support for lifting the ban on the headscarf. The constitutional court will now examine the charges, launching a legal battle that will last for many months.
Our correspondent says that is sure to paralyse the political agenda in Turkey - to freeze a whole series of reforms - and most likely, spark an exodus of foreign investment. The EU has expressed its concern at the case, saying it could jeopardise Turkey's ambitions of membership.
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