Ruling Party to be banned in Turkey?

The chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals applied to the Constitutional Court on Friday evening demanding that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) be disbanded.

Zaman

Amid a background of war and workers strikes, the chief prosecutor has started proceedings to close down the Islamicist AKP, the governing party in Turkey. While this move is unlikely to be successful, it is not unprecedented. The Refah Party (The ancestor of today’s AKP) was closed down when it was in office during the ’post-modern coup’ of 1998, and the next incarnation of the party was closed down in 2001. In total in its 44 years of existence the constitutional court has closed down 24 parties

Devrim

Forum: 

Thanks Devrim. It sounds a really hard move, even if somehow //symbolic//. As you underline, it's even more surprising in this situation...

I heard some short news on an Italian radio (Radio24), but it's not on the first pages of our media. Please, keep us informed - in general about your internal political situation.

Turkish Government hits back against Army Supporters

From an Islamicist daily:

"Selçuk, Perinçek and Alemdaroğlu in custody over Ergenekon

Kemal Alemdaroğlu (Former İstanbul University rector), Doğu Perinçek (Workers Party (İP) Chairman), İlhan Selçuk (Cumhuriyet daily chief columnist)

Two senior officials of a Turkish political party, a former university rector and the chief columnist of a daily newspaper -- all known for their neo-nationalism and ultra-secularism -- were taken into custody early on Friday morning over alleged links to a criminal network with suspected links to the army and bureaucracy."

todayszaman.com

Devrim

The latest updates for those following this story:

"Proposal against party closures on way to Parliament

Ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) acting group chairman Nihat Ergün said yesterday that a new set of regulations was needed to make party closures more difficult in Turkey.

A chief prosecutor asked the Constitutional Court earlier this month to close down the ruling party for allegedly trying to create an Islamic state in secular Turkey.

He also sought to ban 71 party officials, including the prime minister, along with the president, from politics for five years. The AK Party has denied the charges."

todayszaman.com

Neo-nationalist party leader Perinçek arrested

A Turkish court on Monday filed charges against the leader of a small leftist, neo-nationalistic political party in a probe into a network of extreme nationalists who allegedly want to topple the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

The court in İstanbul charged Doğu Perinçek with "being a senior member of a terrorist organization and obtaining and possessing classified documents." Perinçek is the leader of the Workers' Party (İP), which won a tiny fraction of the vote in general elections last summer. In 2007, a Swiss court convicted Perinçek of racism for denying that the mass killing of Armenians in the early 20th century was genocide."

todayszaman.com

Devrim

Case to be opened

It was announced today that the case to ban the government will be heard by the constitutional court.

Devrim

From al-Jazeera:

english.aljazeera.net

"Turkey orders trial of ruling party

Turkey's highest court has agreed to hear a case calling for a ban on the ruling ruling Justice and Development party (AKP).

The 11-member Constitutional Court said on Monday it had decided to hear the full case for shutting down the AKP on grounds that it is trying to scrap secular principles enshrined in the country's constitution."

Devrim