Erdogan's party may face legal proceedings

PanARMENIAN.Net - The secularist establishment in Turkey is currently laying the groundwork to prepare the files for a case to force the closure of the Justice and Development (AK) Party headed by PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the grounds that it is encouraging Islamic fundamentalism.



Such files are compiled at the office of the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals. If the chief prosecutor finds sufficient evidence to launch a case for the closure of a political party he takes the issue to the Constitutional Court, the New Anatolian reports.



In the past the Constitutional Court has closed down several pro-Kurdish and Islamist parties. The last Islamist party to be closed by the court was the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi) led by former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan. Most AK Party officials and ministers came from this party and are thus branded as "people with Islamic roots."

The secularists opposed the presidential candidacy of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul saying someone with his Islamic background should not be head of state.



The presidential election was a test for the secularist establishment to flex its muscle and the fact that the secularists prevented the AK Party from electing its candidate as head of state showed the weaknesses of the government. The secularist challenge came in the form of a military ultimatum presented to the government on April 28 and three mass rallies in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir that hurt the AK Party.