Ankara - Turkey's Constitutional Court banned the main opposition party yesterday but stopped short of large-scale expulsions from parliament. Such an action would have led to by-elections and thrown IMF-backed financial reforms into doubt.
The court ruled by eight votes to three that there were grounds to ban the Virtue Party, which controls 102 out of 550 seats. It was described as a focus of "Islamist and anti-secular activities". The court expelled two members from parliament and imposed political bans on five more.
"It was decided by majority vote that the Virtue Party will be permanently closed ... for activities contrary to the principle of the secular republic," Chief Justice Mustafa Bumin said. He added that party property would be confiscated by the treasury.