CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO DECIDE ON CLOSURE CASE SOON
Today’s Zaman
March 18 2008
Turkey
The Constitutional Court will decide within 10 days whether to take
up a request from a state prosecutor to shut down the ruling Justice
and Development Party (AK Party), one of the court’s 11 judges said
on Monday.
A state prosecutor on Friday filed a motion with the Constitutional
Court, the highest court in the country, seeking to close the party due
to alleged anti-secular activities. The prosecutor who filed the case,
Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcýnkaya, also
demanded that 71 party members, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdoðan and President Abdullah Gul (who served as foreign minister in
the previous AK Party Cabinet), be banned from politics for five years.
The AK Party, at a press conference held on short notice on Friday
night, called the suit "an attack on Turkish democracy and the
Turkish people." Deputy Chairman of the AK Party Dengir Mir Mehmet
Fýrat termed it "the worst injustice against our country’s interests,
peace and stability as well as its reputation in the world."
The indictment has raised the prospect of prolonged political turmoil
in Turkey and has rattled financial markets already badly jolted
by the global credit crunch and fears of a deep recession in the
United States.
The Constitutional Court is now in the process of naming a rapporteur
for the case. The first investigation will not take more than 10 days,
Osman Paksut, deputy chief justice and spokesman for the court, told
reporters yesterday. He also advised reporters not to wait in front
of the court expecting a major story to emerge every hour.
According to Paksut, the first investigation will establish whether
the dossier is correctly formatted so that the Constitutional Court
can examine its contents. When the court has agreed to examine the
case, it will have to determine whether the accusations themselves
are sufficiently serious and plausible to be investigated. If it does,
the AK Party will then have to provide arguments in its own defense.
A final verdict could take many months.
Erdoðan, who was barred from politics once before for reciting a poem
deemed too Islamist by Turkish authorities, has vowed to fight the
lawsuit, calling it an attack upon democracy.
Supreme Court of Appeals responds
A myriad of protests and statements of condemnation have been made by
politicians, civil society groups, foreign diplomats and academics
in Turkey since the prosecutor filed his case against the governing
party on Friday. Supreme Court of Appeals’ President Hasan Gerceker
told critics in a statement made on Monday "not to push the boundaries
of criticism too hard."
In the written statement, released in the afternoon, he said,
"The evaluation and the final decision on this issue lie with the
Constitution Court."
"The boundaries of criticism should not be pushed too far, and making
or writing comments, articles and news that fall slightly short of
insult should be avoided. The duty of the media is to inform the
society without crossing legal or ethical boundaries. We believe the
Turkish press will show the utmost care in this issue."
Turkish newspapers have speculated that the AK Party, which has
presided over strong economic growth and political reforms since
taking power in 2002, could ask opposition parties to help push
through constitutional changes to thwart the prosecutors.
A serious allegation against the prosecutor came yesterday from Culture
and Tourism Minister Erturðrul Gunay, who said in remarks to news
channel NTV that the case was launched with the purpose of covering
up an incident known to the public as Ergenekon — a gang suspected
of serious crimes, including the assassination of ethnic Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, in hopes of creating chaos and preparing the
groundwork in Turkey for a military takeover.
Ergenekon’s plans were unearthed in a police operation a few months
ago. Noting that the investigation into the gang members was ongoing,
Gunay said: "Things were forced to develop in such a way that I think
that perhaps Mr. Chief Prosecutor was led to act in this way. True,
the people always make the ultimate decision on every particular
subject, but there is a milieu that they are part of that leads to
a particular decision."
Meanwhile, the Monday edition of daily Taraf asked its readers to
file complaints against Yalcýnkaya for "abusing his authority." In a
sample petition the daily argued that the evidence in the indictment
was entirely unsubstantiated, given that some of the accusations were
based on cases already dealt with at different courts.
A coup d’etat from neo-nationalists
Ahmet Gundul, a retired Supreme Court of Appeals prosecutor, shared
his opinions on Yalcýnkaya’s indictment with the press yesterday,
saying it was "thought provoking" that such charges were being
pressed against the AK Party for no apparent reason. He said he
believed the primary purpose was to wear the government out and
damage Turkey’s European Union process. "Backstage, behind this case,
there are segments calling themselves neo-nationalists. This [case]
is a neo-nationalist attempt to overthrow the government."
He said it was wrong to interpret the case’s repercussions in "legal"
terms alone, underlining that the case was mostly political.
"Everyone who believes in democracy, whether they voted for the AK
Party or not, should show their reaction in the strongest way."
Members of judiciary, politicians continue to protest
Legal professionals continue to protest the attempt to prosecute the
AK Party over alleged anti-secular activities. Ayhan Cabuk, head of
the Van Bar Association, said yesterday that the Constitutional Court
had to reject the indictment because it sought to try the president,
who under Turkish law can only be tried on charges of treason. Cabuk
also said that the evidence presented by the prosecutor was not nearly
sufficient to close a party down.
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) has not as a party openly protested
the attempt to shut down the AK Party. Its leader has not commented
so far, while one of its deputy chairmen, Hakký Suha Okay, said:
"We wouldn’t like for a party to be shut down. But some parties are
taking their revenge on the revolution of enlightenment," referring
to the introduction of Turkey’s secular system.
CHP Deputy Chairman Mustafa Ozyurek said in response to Nationalist
Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli’s proposal to act quickly
and change the Constitution to protect political parties from closure
that "there is currently an ongoing judicial process that was launched
in accordance with the current law." He said trying to change the
current rules of the game would not be right in a state where the
rule of law prevailed.
News reports announced yesterday, however, that CHP leader Deniz Baykal
would speak on the issue for the first time on private news channel
Star TV Monday night in an interview with news anchor Uður Dundar.
Head of the Grand Unity Party (BBP) Muhsin Yazýcýoðlu said in a
statement made to the press on the closure case on Monday that the
Constitutional Court should reject the indictment from the outset.
Businessmen’s associations from across the country continued to issue
statements condemning Yalcýnkaya’s indictment. Southeastern Young
Businessmen’s Association head Abdulkadir Akboz said, "We don’t think
that an attempt to shut down a party in a country that calls itself
a democracy is right."
Batman Chamber of Commerce head Mehmet Teymur remarked that the case
was "very unfortunate," adding: "Nobody would have expected this.
Everybody is pleased with the government. Stability has been
established, the economy is on a good track. It is not right to close
down a party in a democracy."
Erzurum Chamber of Trade and Commerce Chairman Muammer Cindilli said,
"You won’t be doing something right if you are repeating an earlier
mistake knowing that you will get the exact same results as before."
The Van Chamber of Trade and Commerce, the Diyarbakýr Entrepreneurs
and Businessmen’s Association (DÝGÝAD), the Diyarbakýr branch of
the Legal Research Center (HUDER), the Diyarbakýr Bar Association
and academics from Dicle University also released statements in
condemnation of what they viewed as an anti-democratic attempt to
shut down the governing party.
In Elazýð province, Anatolia Alevi Bektashi Culture Promotion
Association President Ali Coban said the case aimed to harm peace in
the country. Saying that the AK Party was elected by the people, Coban
asserted that to ensure a bright future for Turkey, the party should
not be closed down. "I believe that Turkey will eventually overcome
all of these [obstacles] and that bright days will arrive," Coban said.
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