THE WASHINGTON POST: AKP MUSTN’T BE BANNED

The Washington Post called on the Bush administration to prevent banning of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). “In many countries where elections and Islam overlap, religious political parties are suspected - often rightly - of trying to use the democratic system to advance an illiberal agenda. Turkey, the most advanced democracy in the Muslim world, has the opposite problem. Its mildly religious ruling party has led the way in introducing progressive political and economic reforms and preparing the country for membership in the European Union. Its secular opposition, meanwhile, has repeatedly resorted to antidemocratic tactics,” the editorial says. “The administration ought to make it plain that banning the AKP would cause serious damage to U.S.-Turkish relations. The United States has a vital interest in the success of Turkish democracy - and of the moderate Islamic party that now leads it.” In March 2008, the Turkish Constitutional Court said it will consider a request to ban the ruling political party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The chief prosecutor for the Turkish Court of Appeals, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, handed the court an indictment charging the ruling Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish initials AKP, with stoking an "Islamist-inspired" system of government. Yalcinkaya called for a total ban on AKP, which has roots in the religious community, and a five year political ban on Erdogan, President Abdullah Gul and former parliamentary speaker Bulent Arinc. Erdogan countered the charges, suggesting the allegations were meant to "create social unrest."

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THE WASHINGTON POST: AKP MUSTN’T BE BANNED
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