( dpa ) - Moves to ban Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were harmful to Turkey's internal political processes, and in principle parties should not be banned in democracies, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller said in Ankara on Tuesday.
"In principle you cannot use courts against political parties as political policy," Moller said at a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan.
Moller did not comment directly on the case against the AKP, but did note that in Denmark only parties that have direct links to violence can be banned.
Turkey's chief prosecutor has lodged an lodged an indictment against the AKP seeking to have the party banned on the basis that it is a focal point for anti-secular activities.
The range of activities listed in the indictment that Yalcinkaya argued were proof that the AKP sought to undermine the secular state included moves to allow women to wear Islamic-style headscarves at universities, attempts to restrict public drinking of alcohol to "red light zones" and appointments to public sector positions seemingly based on the religious convictions of the applicants.
The indictment also seeks to have Erdogan, President Abdullah Gul and 69 other AKP figures, from ministers to local council mayors, banned from politics for five years.
Moller said that he hopes that the case is resolved quickly.
"It is stopping the political process here in your own country, because you have to use all your efforts to find out whether to ban or not to ban," Moller said.