Turkish prosecutor general's office acts in self-defense

PanARMENIAN.Net - The action Turkish prosecutor general's office against the ruling AKP may be described as self-defense, Director of the Institute of Oriental

Studies at the RA Academy of Sciences, Dr. Ruben Safrastyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.



"Turkey's juridical reform is in hands of Kemalists," he said.



"President Abdullah Gul, an AKP member, is empowered to appoint judges. True, this move would undermine the political balance between the

Kemalists and Islamists achieved in summer 2007, when the AKP and army sealed a bargain that resulted in incursion in northern Iraq. However,

bureaucratic Kemalist circles were discontent with the compromise," he noted.



"It's hard to foretell the consequences of the legal action but heated reaction has already followed," Dr Safrastyan resumed.



Turkey's chief prosecutor has asked the Constitutional Court to ban the governing AK Party led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accusing it of anti-secular activities. Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya said he believed that there was enough evidence to show the party had been contravening Turkey's secular constitution.



The AK Party, which has Islamist roots, won last year's general elections, so any move to close it will be extremely controversial. The

AKP is already locked in a battle with Turkey's secular elite, backed by the powerful military, over recent changes on the headscarf issue.