ANKARA – Turkish Daily News


The ruling Justice and Development Party or AKP submitted its final written defense in the closure case to the Constitutional Court yesterday basing its advocacy on previous decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the Venice Criteria.

The party's defense is based on previous decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on political party closures and Venice criteria on party closures which states a party may only be shut down if it uses violence in pursuit of its goals. “Closure of the AKP will be a violation of the top European Court's decisions and freedom of expression and organization" read the defense. "The AKP is not a successor of any party" claimed the advocacy and emphasized that the AKP cannot be held responsible for the legislative activities of Parliament.

The defense consists of three parts the first of which is a judicial defense of the party itself. The second answers claims on party leader and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The third part responds to the request of a five-year political ban on 70 other people. Five annexes attached to the advocacy include all speeches and statements cited as evidence of being a focal point of anti-secular activities in the indictment.

Deputy leader of the AKP Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat said the party did not touch on the headscarf issue yesterday after he submitted the defense. “The prosecutor's understanding of secularism is entirely problematic” read the defense and argued that he did not have any evidence that the party is supplanting secularism. The AKP also argued that the chief prosecutor's claims are not based on evidence. The Constitutional Court's latest decision on headscarf amendments is avoided in the defense but the accusations of sponsoring amendments are answered. The AKP handed the advocacy 13 days in advance of the deadline as it wants the case to be concluded as soon as possible.