Turkish court turns on Erdogan
Court ruling criticises Turkey PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan
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Friday, 24, Oct 2008 11:15
Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was singled out in criticism by the country's constitutional court today.
In details backing its July decision not to dissolve the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party the court said Mr Erdogan had breached its secular constitution.
Mr Erdogan's support for the removal of a ban on headscarves for women at university earlier this year was seen as clear evidence of its preference for reintroducing an Islamist agenda into mainstream politics.
Many commentators had expected the court to bar the prime minister from politics for five years as a result, but instead it opted for financial sanctions against his party.
Justifications for that move emerged today. The Zaman newspaper said the judgement included efforts to lower the age at which students can attend Koran courses. National education minister Huseyin Celik and comments by former speaker Bulent Arinc were also singled out.
But 12 separate statements by Mr Erdogan also contributed, a personal criticism which is expected to exacerbate already tense sacred-secular tensions in Turkey.
The country has maintained a strong tradition of keeping mosque and state separate but the pro-Islamist stance of the AK party since it won a second term in elections last year has brought this into question.
Criticism from its elite power bases - notably the military – emerged as a result.
"The clash with the secular establishment was inevitable," Fadi Hakura of Chatham House told inthenews.co.uk following the initial ruling in July.
"And therefore you see now the political mess emerge and that's where Turkey is now."