AKP Submits Its Defense in Closure Case
AKP’s Dengir Firat presenting the party’s defense to the Constitutional Court (photo from Today’s Zaman)
The ruling AK Party has submitted its defense to the Constitutional Court in answer to a case brought against it that seeks to close the party on grounds of antisecular activities, and to ban from politics 70 party members, including the prime minister, and the president (who is officially no longer an AKP member).
Instead of answering the individual charges in the indictment, the AKP’s defense argues that the indictment is politically motivated and is not based on legal grounds, then spells out the various ways in which the charges have no legal basis (some are based on news articles, but without including later refutations; some are statements made before the party was founded or by persons who are not members; some hold the AKP accountable for actions by both legislative and executive branches, when these are separate domains; some are for laws passed by parliament that could have been overturned by a court, rather than by means of closing the party that passed them; and some of the charges are for activities that are not illegal).
The defense argues that shutting down a political party is an exceptional situation that should be resorted to only as a last option where the party has threatened violence, citing the relevant articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Venice criteria — which set out the EU standards for banning political parties — and the Copenhagen criteria, which set out EU democratic standards.
(click here for article in English)(updated article from May 2)
The AKP also is preparing a package of democratic reforms that will make it more difficult for the court to close down a party, although it is uncertain whether this will have any impact on the present closure case.
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