The closure case filed by the top prosecutor is politically motivated and biased and constitutes a threat to the country argues the ruling party in its defense

Göksel Bozkurt
ANKARA – TDN Parliament Bureau


Going on the offensive in the closure case filed against it the Justice and Development Party (AKP) presented its defense to the Constitutional Court and said the top prosecutor had a political agenda while filing the closure case and that shutting down the ruling party will pave the way for a regime ruled by the judiciary.

The AKP submitted its defense to the Constitutional Court last Thursday but the aaaaaaas of the document came to light Tuesday. The indictment against the AKP was dismissed as “being harmful to secularism and untrue” in the defense.

Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya in March filed an indictment against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for “being the focal point of anti-secularist activities.” The party faces closure if found guilty by the Constitutional Court. The prosecutor has also asked for 71 AKP members to be banned from politics for a period of five years including President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The 98-page defense argued that the indictment is far from being objective or rational noting “It is a contradiction to accuse a party that has done all that's necessary for Turaaa to progress toward its European Union membership goal in line with the vision of Turaaa's founder Atatürk of being the focal point of anti-secularist activities.”

The lifting of the ban on headscarves at universities was done as part of a rights drive argued the government dismissing claims that the ban was in place to protect secularism. “In none of the countries that are secular and democratic is a ban on headscarves in place” the defense document stated.

The party argued that as a political movement that had succeeded in getting at least a deputy elected from 80 of the 81 provinces in the country the AKP was a guarantee of unity secularism and national integrity.

The party dismissed all the accusations directed against it saying it had done nothing to need to defend itself.

It also cited statements made by opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal former President Süleyman Demirel and former prime ministers Tansu Çiller Bülent Ecevit and Mesut Yılmaz as examples of religious remarks that were never construed as anti-secularist.

Milliyet's Fikret Bila in his column yesterday noted that the AKP's defense was based on dismissing accusations of anti-secularism while noting that its understanding of secularism was broader and more inclusive. The AKP tries to show in its defense that the narrow interpretation of secularism which allowed the Constitutional Court to ban headscarves at universities is wrong while arguing that its definition in broader noted Bila.



Ruling party cannot be shut down:

As head of the executive branch with significant influence over the legislative branch a ruling party's closure will constitute a serious threat to the regime argued the AKP.

It used comments made by Professor Erdoğan aaaiç in a meeting in 1997 to defend its argument. aaaiç a former Higher Education Board (YÖK) chairman who constantly clashed with the government over its stance on secularism and the headscarf ban at universities had argued that most of the parties closed were either marginal parties or were shut down immediately after military coups. “It is impossible to executive the closure mechanism for a ruling party” aaaiç had argued.

The closure of the ruling party will result in paralyzing the legislative and executive branch the AKP argued noting that this was why many interpreted the case as a “judicial coup.”

“The most basic principle that separates democracies from other forms of governance is the fact that governments are changed through elections” the defense said.

While pointing to the political motives behind the indictment the AKP warned of the dangers posed by a politicized judiciary. “If the judiciary takes upon itself to conduct the duties of political opposition and interferes in politics democracy will be in great danger” it said.

Bila argued that the AKP is using the indictment itself as a defense arguing that the closure case has already cost a lot politically and economically. Bila said Erdoğan mostly stands behind his statements in the defense noting that both Kemalism and secularism were used as the main basis of the AKP's stance albeit with a different interpretation.

The whole trial period is expected to last at least six more months.