Top prosecutor claims Turkey's PM is hiding his pro-Islamic intentions
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Turkey's top prosecutor accused the Turkish prime minister of hiding his true intentions to transform the Turkish Republic's regime into a conservative Islamic republic in his written arguments on the merits of the closure case against the ruling AKP submitted on Friday to the Constitutional Court, Hurriyet daily reported. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) said the written arguments were idelogically motivated and began their preparations to give their written statement in response, CNNTurk reported on Sunday. (UPDATED)
"The party started to focus on the "National View" ideology that is also seen as the backbone of previous pro-Islamic parties such as the National Order Party (MNP), the National Salvation Party (MSP), (the previously banned) Welfare Party (RP) and the Virtue Party (FP) after the party became more politically powerful thanks to the general election held on July 22, 2008," Abdurahman Yalcinkaya, Turkey's top prosecutor is quoted as saying in his written arguments by Hurriyet daily.
The "National View" is the core ideology of political Islam in
"Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan initially said, "I took the 'National View uniform' out, but later confessed his true intentions by saying, 'Would I reveal different political attitudes before and after entering into politics, this kind of attitude would be cheating society and this is why I think along the same lines as before,'" Yalcindag wrote, alleging Erdogan's statements reveal his true intentions.
The ruling AKP had proposed a bill for a constitutional amendment lifting a ban on the wearing of the headscarf in universities in February. The Turkish parliament passed the bill; a move that sparked concerns regarding the future of secularism and divided the public opinion. He submitted on Friday his written arguments on the merits of the closure case against the ruling AKP to the
AKP'S PREPARATIONS
The preparations of the ruling AKP for its written response to the written arguments presented by the prosecutor on Friday continued during the party's consultation meeting being held in Kızılcahamam town on the outskirts of the capital
The AKP's response to the indictment prepared with the attendance of Erdogan is expected to be submitted to the
The response to the indictment filed on March 14, will include all of the 71 officials, including the PM and President Abdullah Gul, whom the top prosecutor asked be banned from politics for five years.
AKP high level officials also claim that the prosecutor had issued more politically motivated rather than legal arguments in his report. "The top prosecutor reflected on his intentions in filing the lawsuit in his written arguments rather than presenting any new legal evidence," unnamed high level officials were quoted as saying by CNNTurk.
The AKP's final defense is 100-page long and is written in a more academic rather a political style, unlike its preliminary defense. The AKP used the expression “response to indictment” rather than “defense” in its preliminary defense text submitted to the Court.