Turkey's top court to finalize the AKP case in four to five weeks

"The court may finalize the case in four to five weeks time. It may take three weeks or six weeks as well," Osman Paksut, vice-president of the Constitutional Court, told reporters at a reception at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara.

 

Two AKP officials, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek and deputy leader of the parliamentary group Bekir Bozdag, delivered their verbal defense on the case in a six and a half hours long hearing. On Tuesday the prosecutor submitted his verbal arguments.Â

 

According to the legal procedure, the court's rapporteur will submit and distribute his report on merits of the case to court members and a decision date will be announced by the court’s chairman, Hasim Kilic.

 

Paksut said the court rapporteur would start working on the case immediately and court members intended to finalize the case as soon as possible.

 

"It is a very complicated job but our rapporteur will present the report as soon as possible. It is impossible to speak of a date," Paksut added.

 

Turkey's top prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya filed a case against the Islamist-rooted AKP in March, and demanded the party's closure, as well as a ban on 71 officials from political activities.

 

The prosecutor accused the AKP of becoming the "focal point of anti-secular activities." Yalcinkaya said before the Court AKP seeks to establish a "Sharia order" and reiterated his demand for the ruling party's closure.

 

Turkish politics had locked in the court process against the ruling AKP. Financial markets have been monitoring the developments as the risk perception on Turkey increased at a time when the risk aversion increased among global investors. Every party wants a rapid outcome from the case to avoid a prolonged uncertainty period.

 

AKP'S DEFENSE

Although AKP has officially denied any preparations for a possible closure, the likelihood of a closure ruling is seen to be increased after the court's decision to annul the law lifting the headscarf ban.

 

At the Thursday's hearing the principle AKP’s defense had delivered by Cicek, while Bozbag delivered the personal defenses on the party officials which face the risk of a political ban.

 

Cicek told reporters after the hearing that the AKP delegation had expressed its expectation for a rapid ruling on the case.

 

"We said the case should not last long. We, as a governing party, expressed this opinion with the view that various problems could emerge due to a prolonged process."  Â

 

Cicek declined to elaborate the content of the defense but said "a wide assessment" was made in line with similar rulings of the Constitutional Court as well as the European Court of Human Rights. "The Constitutional Court will deliver its ruling after assessing our response," Cicek said, adding the defense based on legal grounds.

 

He also said the court members did not ask any questions.   Â

 

EARLIER REPORTS ON DEFENSE

According to the previous media reports, AKP was expected to express its expectation that a party shall not be closed if there is no open and imminent threat, referring to the court's ruling in a recent party closure case.

 

The Constitutional Court rejected the demand to close a pro-Kurdish political party, HAK-PAR, saying "Political parties' solution suggestions for the country's problems with their own perspective cannot be a reason for closure. No closure decision shall be made unless there is an open and imminent threat."          Â

 

AKP is likely to tell the court that Yalcinkaya's indictment contained incorrect information and was based on wrong claims, according to recent reports.

 

Cicek could have demanded the court not to cite as evidence statements made by AKP officials after the closure case was filed on March 14, Hurriyet daily reported on Thursday.

 

Last month's remarks of AKP Deputy Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, that the country’s modernization revolution in 1923 has "traumatized" society, had drawn widespread reaction across the nation, especially from opposition parties and legal and political experts.

 

In a separate incident, Parliamentary Justice Committee Chairman and AKP MP Ahmet Iyimaya had offered in June a proposal draft to suspend Constitutional Court rulings in cases filed for "objecting" to a bill or "demanding the annulment of" a bill passed by parliament in a bid to limit the Constitutional Court's power.

 

Cicek was expected to tell the court that the "multi-associated widespread danger" concept, which was voiced by the chief prosecutor at Tuesday's hearing, has no legal basis, Hurriyet also wrote.