Turkish ruling party still on track to EU

A bid to make Turkey’s ruling AKP party illegal on the grounds that it breaches the country’s secular constitution has failed, keeping Ankara on the path to EU membership.

The constitutional court voted on Wednesday not to ban the party for “Islamist tendencies”, although the final decision was a close one, with six of the eleven judges voting in favour of a ban, one short of the figure needed.

But the court – which has its own axe to grind over government plans to slash budgets – sent a clear message to prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that they considered his party to be “a centre of anti-secular activities”, an accusation that carries considerable stigma in such a stoutly secular nation. 

Erdogan welcomed the decision, which spared him the ignominy of political banishment and the country the upheaval of yet more elections in little less than a year after the last vote.

But he still faces pressure from within Turkey and elsewhere to prove that he is a reliable defender of Turkey’s constitutional secularism – and the right man to steer the country through the lengthy process to EU membership.

European officials were at least quick to welcome the court’s decision – even if they for the most part remain concerned that the case was ever brought in the first place.

“I encourage Turkey now to resume with full energy its reforms to modernise the country,” said enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn.

“In this context, I encourage the relevant parties to work towards sustainable reforms based on a consensus forged through a broad-based dialogue with all sections of Turkish society.”

“Alignment of Turkey’s rules on political parties with European standards is essential.”

Erdogan’s consverative AKP has been urged in the past to take a less sectarian approach to government and to involve opposition parties more often in the decision-making process.

Although they are on their summer break, MEPs have also been quick to welcome the decision of the court.

UK deputy Andrew Duff, vice-president of parliament’s EU-Turkey joint parliamentary committee, who was in Istanbul for the decision, called the move “a step forward for parliamentary democracy in Turkey”.

“This implies that accession negotiations between Turkey and the EU can continue,” he added.

Wilfried Martens, president of the EPP political group to which the AKP is affiliated, said that the decision showed that the party “is fully in line with the rule of law and respects the secular nature of the country.”

“The AKP's widespread popularity was proven in its landslide poll victory last year and I am convinced that under the continued leadership of Recep Tayip Erdogan, it will continue its hard work to reform the country and to secure a solid European future for all its citizens,” Martens added.

• Previous article
• Next article