Ruling Party to be banned in Turkey?
Mar 15 2008 11:48
Ruling Party to be banned in Turkey?
Zaman wrote:
The chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals applied to the Constitutional Court on Friday evening demanding that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) be disbanded.
Amid a background of war and workers strikes, the chief prosecutor has started proceedings to close down the Islamicist AKP, the governing party in Turkey. While this move is unlikely to be successful, it is not unprecedented. The Refah Party (The ancestor of today’s AKP) was closed down when it was in office during the ’post-modern coup’ of 1998, and the next incarnation of the party was closed down in 2001. In total in its 44 years of existence the constitutional court has closed down 24 parties.
Devrim
Mar 18 2008 13:49
#2
Zaman wrote:
Prosecutor’s move persecutes markets
Traders work during the morning session at the stock exchange in İstanbul on Monday. The YTL fell almost 4 percent and shares plunged 7.5 percent as fears over the global banking system intensified and state prosecutors sought to close down Turkey's ruling AK Party.
Turkey's stocks plunged, the lira sank and interest rates rose yesterday as markets reacted strongly against a case opened by Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya demanding the closure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Friday.
Fortunately, I changed most of my salary to Euro last week.
Devrim
Mar 18 2008 17:41
#3
i find this very strange, how can you ban the party in power in a country? it seems absurd, altho obviously its happened before. this must really throw the country into a bit of confusion.
Mar 18 2008 18:25
#4
It has happened before. The last time was in 1998. Think of it like a military coup without the tanks.
Devrim
Mar 18 2008 18:44
#5
Actually the wife has just got off the phone with a friend who is a journalist, and she is now convinced that the government will be banned. I don't agree, but she feels so strongly to bet me it will for a pair of shoes.
Devrim
Mar 19 2008 02:42
#6
What do you think will happen?
Surely the AKP have got a bit of support to have been elected in the first place - have they got a militia or something?
Or do you think they'll just step aside quietly and re-organize into a different party?
Mar 19 2008 06:45
#7
I think it will get thrown out of court.
AKP got 48% of the vote in the last election.
They don't have a militia.
If they are banned they would probably step aside quietly and reorganise like last time.
Devrim
Mar 19 2008 07:16
#8
Zaman wrote:
AK Party leader Erdoğan has decided to change the Constitution and Turkey's laws on political parties within the next 10 days to disable the prosecutor's authority to file for the disbandment of political parties. Speaking to Today's Zaman on the issue, Nihat Ergün, deputy chairman of the AK Party's parliamentary group assured that the issue of closure would be off the Turkish agenda within the next two weeks at most. "We can't simply sit down and watch the blazes burn the economy. Parliament will take this issue off Turkey's agenda within the next 10 or 15 days," he said.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=136748
Devrim
Mar 19 2008 07:55
#9
MHP (fascist) has refused to support these proposals. This means the government can't get the two thirds it needs to change the constitution.
Devrim
Mar 21 2008 20:12
#10
Zaman wrote:
Selçuk, Perinçek and Alemdaroğlu in custody over Ergenekon
Kemal Alemdaroğlu (Former İstanbul University rector), Doğu Perinçek (Workers Party (İP) Chairman), İlhan Selçuk (Cumhuriyet daily chief columnist)
Two senior officials of a Turkish political party, a former university rector and the chief columnist of a daily newspaper -- all known for their neo-nationalism and ultra-secularism -- were taken into custody early on Friday morning over alleged links to a criminal network with suspected links to the army and bureaucracy.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=136930
Devrim
Mar 21 2008 21:17
#11
jambo1 wrote:
i find this very strange, how can you ban the party in power in a country?
that was my reaction, but as devrim says this has happened before. so.
didn't the court do something heavy last year too, something about a quorum for a vote? for president?
Mar 21 2008 22:12
#12
I don't actually see what is so strange about it. There are different factions within the state. The ruling party is just one of them. Sometimes not the strongest.
Devrim
Mar 25 2008 12:18
#13
The latest updates for those following this story:
Zaman wrote:
Proposal against party closures on way to Parliament
Ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) acting group chairman Nihat Ergün said yesterday that a new set of regulations was needed to make party closures more difficult in Turkey.A chief prosecutor asked the Constitutional Court earlier this month to close down the ruling party for allegedly trying to create an Islamic state in secular Turkey.
He also sought to ban 71 party officials, including the prime minister, along with the president, from politics for five years. The AK Party has denied the charges.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=137223
Zaman wrote:
Neo-nationalist party leader Perinçek arrested
A Turkish court on Monday filed charges against the leader of a small leftist, neo-nationalistic political party in a probe into a network of extreme nationalists who allegedly want to topple the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party).The court in İstanbul charged Doğu Perinçek with "being a senior member of a terrorist organization and obtaining and possessing classified documents." Perinçek is the leader of the Workers' Party (İP), which won a tiny fraction of the vote in general elections last summer. In 2007, a Swiss court convicted Perinçek of racism for denying that the mass killing of Armenians in the early 20th century was genocide.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=137233
Devrim
Mar 25 2008 13:20
#14
Devrim wrote:
Zaman wrote:
Neo-nationalist party leader Perinçek arrested
A Turkish court on Monday filed charges against the leader of a small leftist, neo-nationalistic political party in a probe into a network of extreme nationalists who allegedly want to topple the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
i'm trying to parse this in the context of the thread. is this a lower court, farther from the reach of the "deep government"?
Mar 25 2008 16:20
#15
sorry if i'm being dumb, but what is a 'neo-nationalist'?
Mar 25 2008 21:06
#16
newyawka wrote:
i'm trying to parse this in the context of the thread. is this a lower court, farther from the reach of the "deep government"?
No, I don't really look at it like that. It is about the government using the courts to hit back at its enemies, and their allies. "Deep government" is not a good translation of the term. 'Deep State' is better.
Quote:
sorry if i'm being dumb, but what is a 'neo-nationalist'?
İP are.
Devrim
Mar 25 2008 22:30
#17
Devrim wrote:
newyawka wrote:
i'm trying to parse this in the context of the thread. is this a lower court, farther from the reach of the "deep government"?No, I don't really look at it like that. It is about the government using the courts to hit back at its enemies, and their allies. "Deep government" is not a good translation of the term. 'Deep State' is better.
ok, i can get with that.
so we have a governing party vs. deep state (including military) fight, waged in the courts?
Mar 31 2008 07:55
#18
Zaman wrote:
Top court to decide on chaos or stability today
A decision to be made today by the Constitutional Court over whether to hear a case calling for closure of the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will either further deepen the existing atmosphere of chaos in the country or end the tension in society that arose following the filing of the case.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=137677
Devrim
Mar 31 2008 11:37
#19
It has just been announced that the case will open with the exception that President Gül has been removed from the brief.
Devrim
Mar 31 2008 11:56
#20
No, Gül is in with the rest of them.
Devrim
Mar 31 2008 14:32
#21
From al-Jazeera:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C7F23347-766D-4AFE-9E9C-3AE9F46231CC.htm
"Turkey orders trial of ruling party
Turkey's highest court has agreed to hear a case calling for a ban on the ruling ruling Justice and Development party (AKP).
The 11-member Constitutional Court said on Monday it had decided to hear the full case for shutting down the AKP on grounds that it is trying to scrap secular principles enshrined in the country's constitution."
Devrim
Jul 31 2008 13:39
#22
The constitutional court voted not to close the governing party. The court has 11 members and to close the AKP they needed a vote of 7. 6 voted for a ban, 4 abstained, and 1 voted against.
Devrim
Can somebody edit this, please? It should read party, not part in both cases.
Thanks,
Devrim