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ALDE-PACE News

The ALDE Group stands firmly for secular state but opposes banning political parties

Turkey's chief prosecutor has asked the Constitutional Court to ban the governing AK Party led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accusing it of anti-secular activities and contravening Turkey's secular constitution.

The ALDE Group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe firmly believes that every modern European state must act on secular basis and be free of influence of any church. The ALDE Group, however, fully accepts that ideologies of several European political parties are influenced by religions, should it be Christianity at several Christian democratic parties all over Europe, or Islam, like at the AKP in Turkey.

Political disagreements must be confronted in political debates and not in courtrooms. Should the AKP let Turkish parliament or government pass decisions which are against the secular Turkish constitution, those decisions can and should be annulled by rulings of the Constitutional Court.

No person and no political organisation may be punished by its mere views. Only acts, but no thoughts, may be followed by legal consequences. One may disagree with the ideas of any political party including the AKP, but in Turkey decisions are made by authorities and not by political parties.

The ALDE Group is of the conviction that the majority of Turkish citizens support secular Turkish state, while a relative majority of them voted for the AKP at the latest elections. A motion for a legal ban of the AKP could also dangerously undermine political stability in Turkey and the trust of Turkish people in the constitutional structures.

The ALDE Group believes that there is, however, a phenomenon which is still a threat to Turkish democracy, and this is not the ideological basis of certain political parties, but the overwhelming direct involvement of the Turkish military in Turkish political life. The ALDE Group hopes for Turkey that the influence of the military can be decreased as soon as possible, but no political parties will be banned for their convictions.

Such progresses would enhance the democratic level of Turkey and enable the country to proceed towards European solutions, getting closer to European structures, including the European Union.

Matyas Eörsi, Leader of ALDE

Added on 18-03-2008

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