| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Erdogan prepared to amend constitution |
| 2008-04-11 |
| The Turkish prime minister has said that he will not rule out amending the constitution if a top court moves to close the ruling AK Party. "If it is necessary such a step will be taken but if it is not necessary the legal process will be followed just as it is," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a joint news conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. A chief prosecutor asked the Constitutional Court this month to shut down the Justice and Development Party (AKP) that has the majority of seats in Turkey's parliament for what he said was the party's attempt to create a so-called Islamic state in predominantly Muslim Turkey. Turkey's top court agreed last week to take up the case, which also seeks to ban 71 party officials, including Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, from politics for five years. The AKP, denies the charges and its leadership has said the case is politically motivated. Turkish financial markets have fallen on fears of renewed political tensions in Turkey. The case was brought to the court by the radical secular elite after parliament passed a constitutional amendment to lift a ban on female students wearing the Muslim headscarf at universities. Turkey's secular establishment claims the headscarf, worn by a majority of women in predominantly Muslim Turkey, is a symbol of political Islam. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 The Army will make that call, Yippy |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-04-11 10:14 |