Quote:
Turkey's highest court is to make the toughest decision in its 46-year history this week: 11 judges must decide whether to outlaw the ruling party and ban the President, the Prime Minister and 69 other elected officials, on the grounds that they pose a threat to the secular state.
A decision against the party that has ruled for the past six years would be the nuclear option, bringing chaos to a country already accustomed to coups, economic crashes and domestic terrorism. The Constitutional Court of Turkey convened yesterday while the country was still recovering from a deadly double bombing in its largest city, Istanbul, that killed 17 people and injured more than 150.
Superficially, the legal conundrum reflects divisions in this overwhelmingly Muslim country between secularists, convinced that Islam is a private matter, and pious Turks, battling for their place in the sun. For the prosecutor who launched the case in March, the government's ultimate aim "is to establish a state system based on religious principles", and the country is "in danger as it has never been before".
A decision against the party that has ruled for the past six years would be the nuclear option, bringing chaos to a country already accustomed to coups, economic crashes and domestic terrorism. The Constitutional Court of Turkey convened yesterday while the country was still recovering from a deadly double bombing in its largest city, Istanbul, that killed 17 people and injured more than 150.
Superficially, the legal conundrum reflects divisions in this overwhelmingly Muslim country between secularists, convinced that Islam is a private matter, and pious Turks, battling for their place in the sun. For the prosecutor who launched the case in March, the government's ultimate aim "is to establish a state system based on religious principles", and the country is "in danger as it has never been before".
This is some pretty serious stuff. They're talking about banning the Party in power, the President, the Prime Minister and most members of government while they're in office. Supposedly because they're imposing Islam on a country where 98% of the population is Muslim.
The charges are that they are relaxing "secular safeguards", such as the prohibition to wear headscarves in Universities, or allowing certain restaurants to ban the sale and consumption of alcohol.
It has happened before, so it's a serious possibility. What do you think? Should secular principles trump democracy? Isn't this a recipe for creating an underground movement of fanatic islamists that would fall perfectly within the AQ narrative?