PACE expects a decision in line with European principles in AKP case

PACE President Lluis Maria de Puig said the parliamentary assembly expected Turkey's Constitutional Court to make a decision in line with the principles of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Venice Commission, regarding the closure case against the ruling AKP, the Anatolian Agency reported. Â

In a press conference he held in Strasbourg at the opening of the summer session, Puig said there would be a session on "the functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey" on Thursday.Â

Puig said that the closure case against the AKP would be discussed in the session.  Â

"Our aim is not to intervene in Turkey's internal affairs, but to give a message and express PACE's sensitivity about this matter," he told reporters.
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Puig said PACE wanted the preservation of both nation's and judiciary's will in Turkey, and the parliamentary assembly wanted to contribute to discussions in Turkey.

"What we expect from Turkey is to make decisions in which reason and commonsense prevail," the president said.

The president also said that the parliamentary assembly intended to express its opinion when developments were occurring, instead of waiting for the occurrence of a crisis.

"It is normal for people in any democracy to have different ideas and views. The main thing is that disputes are settled by democratic means, in compliance with the Council of Europe’s values. I hope that the Turkish institutions will shoulder their responsibilities in this area. But we too have a responsibility, that of providing Turkey with a clear, unequivocal European perspective," Puig also said in a statement posted on the PACE's website.

VENICE COMMISSION

The European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission, is the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters. Established in 1990, the commission has played a leading role in the adoption of constitutions that conform to the standards of Europe's constitutional heritage.

Initially conceived as a tool for emergency constitutional engineering, the commission has become an internationally recognized independent legal think-tank.

It contributes to the dissemination of the European constitutional heritage, based on the continent's fundamental legal values while continuing to provide "constitutional first-aid" to individual states.

The Venice Commission also plays a unique and unrivalled role in crisis management and conflict prevention through constitution building and advice.

During the spring plenary session of PACE, the presidents of four political groups signed a declaration in which they hoped the decision the Constitutional Court makes about the closure case would be in line with the principles of the Council of Europe and Venice Commission.

The proposal to hold an urgent debate on "the functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey," made at the initiative of the heads of the Assembly's five political groups, was approved by the PACE Bureau during its recent meeting in Stockholm on May 29.

The PACE had expressed its "concern" over the filing of a closure case against the ruling AKP, as it stressed the importance of the "independency of the judiciary," in a statement released in April.

The statement sparked fierce debate in Turkey after the head of PACE told a Turkish TV channel that a Turkish delegation had requested a statement be made. Opposition parties, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), reacted strongly to the statement and accused the ruling AKP of making the request; the party denies claims it made such a request.