Turkey's Demirel defends closure of Welfare party
Turkey's Demirel defends closure of Welfare party
ANKARA (Reuters): Turkey's president has defended the closure
of the Islam-based Welfare party as a regrettable necessity, and
the prosecutor in the case says he is ready to do the same to any
other party that violates the secular code.
"It is impossible...not to feel sorrow at the closure of
Welfare," Anatolian news agency quoted President Suleyman Demirel
as saying late on Saturday. "However, nobody has the right or
privilege to violate the laws of the Turkish Republic."
The constitutional court on Friday banned the main opposition
Welfare Party and barred its leader Necmettin Erbakan from
politics for five years for violating the secularist principles
of the constitution.
But the Islamists, NATO member Turkey's largest single
political grouping, are to reform under a new name and leader, a
leading Welfare MP said on Saturday.
"A new party, a new formation with a new leader, will be
formed in line with the current laws," former cabinet member
Lutfu Esengun told a news conference at Welfare headquarters.
The prosecutor who brought the case to outlaw Welfare warned
its successor not to violate Turkey's secular legal code.
"If we come to the opinion that a party is acting as the
continuation of a banned party, we will, as the constitution
orders us to, open a closure case against that party," newspapers
quoted attorney general Vural Savas as saying.
The laws of overwhelmingly Moslem but officially secular
Turkey strictly forbid any mixing of religion with politics.
As well as banning Welfare, the court stripped 71-year-old
Erbakan and five other Islamists of their seats in parliament.
The party's remaining deputies will automatically become
independents, offering a juicy prospect for Prime Minister Mesut
Yilmaz's fragile coalition government.
The party closure verdict drew adverse reactions from both
aspirant EU member Turkey's Western ally the United States and
its uneasy eastern neighbor Iran.
The United States, while no friend of the Islamists, said the
ban damaged confidence in NATO ally Turkey's democracy.
The disapproval of the United States and European Union might
deter the Turkish military, widely seen as behind the ban on
Welfare, from seeking to drive its replacement from politics.
The closure of the party drew hostile media comment -- and
some comparisons with Algeria -- from around the Middle East
yesterday.
Newspapers in the region denounced the move by Turkey's
constitutional court to ban Welfare and bar its leader Necmettin
Erbakan from politics for five years as a blow to democracy which
would not eliminate the trend the party represents.
"Ankara should know that by declaring the Welfare Party
illegal, it has harmed the country's image and has brought into
question the political authenticity of the Turkish system,"
the English-language Iran News in an editorial.
"Islam will remain in Turkey despite the dismantling of
Welfare," said Saudi Arabia's al-Bilad. The Turkish army saw
Islamists as a threat to secularism Ankara sees as its best bet
to assert a Western identity, the newspaper added.
The London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat said the moves against
Welfare could bring disaster on Turkey and solved no problems.
Pushing a party with about four million members underground
would threaten the country's long-term stability.
The daily voiced fears that the Turkish military might divert
attention from the domestic crisis by raising tension with arch-
rival Greece over Cyprus and the Aegean islands.