Today the Constitutional Court in Turkey decided that the governing political party AKP will not be closed. Commenting on this decision, Dutch Green MEP and Chairman of the Turkey-EU delegation in the European Parliament Joost Lagendijk said: "I feel very relieved that Turkey’s Constitutional Court decided not to close the AKP."
"Closing down AKP on the basis of this indictment clearly goes against European rules on closing down political parties and would have been an anti-democratic decision. Hopefully the AKP will draw the right conclusions from the court ruling and will take action now.
Turkey needs to continue with more speed and energy on the reforms that are necessary to take Turkey into the EU. To start it needs a new civil and democratic Constitution as soon as possible. The articles of the Turkish Constitution that allows closing down political parties should be changed immediately.
Further on, the AKP has to show more sensitivity to the fears and worries of that part of the Turkish population that did not vote for them. They need to see clear signs that AKP will defend the secular character of the Turkish Republic.”