"TURKISH POLITICS IN THE COURTS
By Saban Kardas
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The closure case against the Justice and Development Party (AKP) will soon be concluded. After the presentation of oral arguments to the Constitutional Court last week, Osman Paksut, deputy chairman of the court, said that the verdict on the case might be issued within four to five weeks (Turkish Press, July 4). Speaking at a reception at the American Embassy in Ankara, Paksut disparaged the EU’s involvement in the closure case, particularly recent remarks by officials that the EU membership negotiations might be suspended should the court shut down the AKP. Having noted that the court’s earlier case squashing parliament’s amendments about the headscarf ban at universities had no direct bearing on the closure case and no member of the court had made his decision yet, Paksut claimed that whatever the decision of the court might be, it would be a disaster for Turkish politics (CNN Turk, July 5)."
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