Among the debates on this issue, the commonly held view is that the target of the closure case is to urge the AK Party to abandon its reformist line..

- 13 / 05 / 2008 08:11

It seems that the closure case filed against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will continue to be the most significant agenda item in Turkey until the case is concluded by the top court.

Among the debates on this issue, the commonly held view is that the target of the closure case is to urge the AK Party to abandon its reformist line, hence shifting Turkey away from its EU goal. Yet it is vital for the AK Party to persist in challenging the status quo and to continue reforms; otherwise, it will lose public support.

Star ‘s Eser Karakaş, pointing to the speculation over when the AK Party will be closed, says we will see which of the scenarios circulating will become reality before the end of the year and that we will experience its consequences collectively. What Karakaş wants to draw attention to in the AK Party closure case is something different. By launching this case, he states, the establishment in Turkey actually wants the AK Party to abandon its reformist approach, which brought the country closer to its EU bid between the years 2002 and 2005. During this period, he says, the AK Party demonstrated a strong will to defuse the deadlock over the Cyprus issue, created a stable economic environment in the country that has drawn more than $20 billion in foreign investment, lowered the budget deficit under the Maastricht criteria, took important steps in military-civilian relations for modernization, made efforts to grant university students the right to dress in the way of their choosing and launched the accession talks with the EU. In consideration of this, he argues that the goal of the closure case is to turn the AK Party into a political party that puts on the brakes on the EU goal and one that sees itself as limited to the domestic economy. “It is certain that this party will not be the same AK Party which realized great transformation in the country between 2003 and 2005; even though its name remains the same, it will be a different party in terms of both its function and mission,” says Karakaş, emphasizing that it will be when the party sees such changes that it will be closed symbolically, regardless of what the Constitutional Court or the European Court of Human Rights rules on its closure.

Vatan’s Ruşen Çakır dwells on various scenarios in the AK Party closure case, which are being heatedly debated behind the scenes in the capital. In one of these scenarios the AK Party will not be closed down but will be faced with a situation worse than closure -- losing public support. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will sit at the bargaining table, having come under the threat of this judicial coup. The AK Party has already given up its plans of lifting the ban on Muslim headscarves at universities; it is ready to sacrifice some of the ministers and bureaucrats. Even more important than this, it will give up on its crackdown on the Ergenekon gang, an illegal crime network that has alleged links within the state. In Çakır’s view, there is no dialogue or bargaining option that could make this scenario a reality. In addition, even if the AK Party wanted to do such a thing, it does not know with whom it should engage in bargaining. “And the AK Party knows very well that if it takes a backward step from its reformist actions, it will lose its sprit and naturally the public support behind it,” notes Çakır.

Ergun Babahan of Sabah also supports the view that the goal of the closure case is to urge the AK Party to abandon its reformist line and diverge from Turkey’s EU membership goal. “At the point reached today, big capital and some media outlets are making efforts to cool off relations between Turkey and the EU [by supporting the AK Party’s closure]. The democratic process in Turkey is not among their priorities. They do not mind sacrificing democracy for their concerns and fears. Yet they do not think about what Turkey’s situation would become if it leaves the path to the EU. It is all up to us, we will either accept European values and make an effort to this effect, or we will continue to be a third-class country,” says Babahan.