Former Turkish prosecutor warns gov't could overhaul judiciary

"The Constitutional Court acts rapidly. Otherwise (the government) will overhaul the judicial system. When they do this, it will be the end of the Republic of Turkey. A wider political front, including the CHP, should be formed for the early elections that would be hold after the AKP is closed. Then this political front would get 35-40 percent of the votes, unfortunately we cannot take this step," Vural Savas, the honorary top prosecutor of Turkey, told at a conference in southern province of Antalya on Saturday.

He added Turkey had been moved away from Kemalism with the "one party dictatorship" of the AKP government. He also blamed the Political Parties Law and the 10 percent threshold for the recent turmoil in the country.

Turkey has locked in a political turmoil as every actor in Ankara awaits the top court's ruling in the closure case against the ruling AKP. The top prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, accused the ruling party of being the focal point of anti-secular activities.

Although the Islamist-rooted AKP strongly rejects the claims, public opinion is divided over the issue. Many in Turkey think the party closure is against democracy however every political system has its own safeguards that would be used when it is under threat. Some policies of AKP have raised concerns in Turkey regarding the secularism.

ECHR TO LOOK FOR DEMOCRACY

The closure case is expected to be concluded by end-August, avoiding a prolonged political uncertainty. It is likely to hold early elections either the court rules to close the party or not. Observers say AKP could decide to hold early elections even if it doesn’t get closed to reaffirm the public support. It is also reported some former prominent politicians are in preparations to form central parties.

Turkey's former judge in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), however, said it is hard to find concrete proofs that would "legitimize" a closure ruling for AKP.

"There is a bound between the secularism and democracy. That's true however if you base your decision only on secularism, and say 'this is against secularism, (the party) became the focal point of anti-secular activities, therefore I am closing it," then I am afraid but it won't be sufficient for the ECHR," Riza Turmen told CNNTurk news channel in an interview.

He added the most important criteria for the ECHR in such cases is democracy, and the court will evaluate the situation whether it is against democracy or not.

The ECHR ruled in favor of the top court's decision to close the Welfare Party, which the roots of AKP lays, saying a democracy could use its safeguards to protect itself.