EU reforms rescue Turkey's governing AKP from being closed

The reasoning in the closure case against the AKP was published Friday in the Official Gazette.Â

 

The court decided to reject demands to ban the AKP in its critical ruling at the end of July, but deprived the party of the financial assistance that it would receive from the state and issued a serious warning for the AKP for being "focal point of anti-secular activities".   Â

 

The remark Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan made on lifting the headscarf ban that said, "So what if it is a political symbol", was considered by the court as an activity that harms secularism.

 

On the other hand, the AKP's EU reforms and steps it took to boost the rights of women as well as non-Muslim minorities were the policies that rescued the ruling party from closure.

 

The reasoning said although the AKP took some steps that harm the democratic and secular structure of the Turkish Republic, it did not promote or use violence acts to do so.

 

"It was found that the head of the party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, member of the party and former parliament speaker Bulent Arinc, education minister Huseyin Celik...were involved in determined and intense activities which were against the Article 68 of the constitution," the reasoning also said.

 

The Turkish Constitutional Court was referring to an attempt by the Islamist-rooted AKP to lift a ban on headscarves at universities as it set out its reasons for its July ruling fining the party.