Turkey's top court said today that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and key members of his ruling AK Party had been involved in anti-secular activities.
The Constitutional Court, Turkey's highest judicial body, was setting out the reasons for a July ruling in which it decided not to close the AK Party for Islamist activities but instead fined it for undermining Turkey's secular principles.
"It needs to be accepted that the party became a focus of anti-secular activities due to its move to change some articles of the Turkish constitution," the court said referring to an AK Party-driven attempt to lift a ban on the wearing of Muslim headscarves at universities.
In a setback to the Islamist-rooted AK Party, the constitutional court in June overturned an amendment to lift the restriction, saying it violated Turkey's secular constitution.
The constitutional court's legal reasoning marks the first time a sitting prime minister in predominantly Muslim Turkey has been blamed by the court for undermining the country's secular principles.
The ruling could put pressure on Mr Erdogan to sack some members of his cabinet in an expected reshuffle.
"It was found that the head of the party Recep Tayyip Erdogan, member of the party and former parliament speaker Bulent Arinc, Education Minister Huseyin Celik . . . were involved in determined and intense activities which were against article 68 of the constitution," the court said in its 370-page legal explanation.
The court's unexpectedly harsh criticism against Mr Erdogan, who remains Turkey's most popular politician according to recent opinion polls, is likely to renew tensions in Turkey at a time when it is fighting to limit the impact of a global financial crisis.
The constitutional court imposed financial penalties on the party in July but dismissed the prosecutor's case to have the AK Party closed down and to bar Mr Erdogan and other leading members from party activity for five years.
The AK Party has been locked in a battle with Turkey's powerful secularist establishment, including judges and army generals, since it first came to power in 2002. Secularists say the party is seeking to bring back religion to public life, contrary to the constitution.
The AK Party, which won a sweeping re-election last year, denies it has any Islamist agenda.
Reuters