Turkey's ruling AKP submits defence in party closure case

17/06/2008

ANKARA, Turkey -- The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) submitted its defence arguments Monday (June 16th) in the closure case it faces at the Constitutional Court. Officials delivered it 13 days before the deadline in an attempt to speed up the process. The party is accused of activities that threaten secularism, such as passing legislation that lifted, at least temporarily, the ban on wearing headscarves in universities. The AKP's defence argues that the indictment stems from ideological and political motives rather than legitimate legal concerns. It also says the prosecutor prepared the indictment using information gleaned from Google searches rather than from official AKP sources. Thirdly, the AKP says banning it would violate the practices of the European Court of Human Rights. (Radikal, Milliyet, Zaman - 17/06/08; Cihan, Hurriyet, AP - 16/06/08)