Yesterday, the Constitutional Court of Turkey ruled that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party will not be banned. It was a Phyrric victory for the party, however. A majority of the judges voted to close down the party, but the majority was not large enough. The party will suffer financial consequences, since the Court did vote to diminish state funding for the Party.
As reported earlier on this blog, last week the European Court decided not to issue a preventive interim measure on the case. As now appears, this was indeed wise. Nevertheless, the saga does not stop here, as the legal and political fights over the AK Party’s status are bound to continue in Turkey for the months to come.
For the BBC News press release on the Constitutional Court’s decision, click here. For reactions from the Council of Europe, see here.
