Turkey's AKP says its defense is "very strong"
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AKP is set to defend itself in the closure case by saying the chief prosecutor prepared the indictment careless and disorderly, and failed to put concrete proofs, as the Turkish prime minister ruled out possibility of early election.
Minister Tayyip Erdogan told MPs on Tuesday their defense is very strong and ruled out the possibility of an early election. Erdogan also said they will not ask the court for additional time in defense process.
Erdogan held a meeting with some 50 MPs, including former speaker of the parliament Bulent Arinc, AKP's parliamentary deputy leaders Nihat Ergun, Sadullah Ergin and Bekir Bozdag on Tuesday. Erdogan listened to the suggestions and road map proposals of the MPs for the court process, Turkey's ANKA news agency reported on Wednesday.
"The defense that we prepared will be translated into several languages. We are going to share it with foreigners as well as our nation... We are going to follow the legal process," ANKA quoted Erdogan as saying. He added a possibility of an early election is not on their agenda.
Meanwhile the government spokesman and former Justice Minister Cemil Cicek's photo was taken on Tuesday by a Hurriyet photographer while he was reading the draft text for AKP's defence in the closure case. Only the first page was seen in the photo.
AKP said in its first evaluation of the indictment is that "it was written in a careless and disorderly manner," adding the 70 percent of the proofs based on the stories published in the leftist Cumhuriyet daily.
Cumhuriyet, one of oldest newspapers in Turkey, is among the fiercest opponents of the ruling AKP in the media.
AKP also criticized the chief prosecutor, saying he took "excerpts" from the speeches instead of taking them as a whole and "intentional" columns.
Turkey's chief prosecutor filed a lawsuit in March against the ruling AKP, saying it became the focal point of the anti-secular activities and asked for 71 party officials to be banned.
AKP's defense text was prepared by the party's legal experts, including Cicek, former speaker of the parliament Bulent Arinc and deputy chairman Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat. The AKP's defense team is expected to make a presentation to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday.