Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK)Party decided not to go into parliamentary summer recess until the closure case against AK Party was finalized, reported New Anatolian.
In its meeting at the parliament, AK Party deputies agreed to suspend parliamentary recess until the Constitutional court delivers a verdict.
The chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals Abdurrrahman Yalcinkaya launched a closure case against the ruling AK Party claiming it had been involved in Islamic fundamentalist activities.
In his indictment, the chief prosecutor demanded 71 people, including President Abdullah Gul (a former foreign minister) and Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to be banned from politics for five years.
On March 31st, the Constitutional Court convened to make a preliminary assessment of the indictment and the judges accepted to open a debate on it unanimously while they voted 7-4 on the part of the indictment related to President Gul.
AK Party submitted its preliminary written defense to the court on April 30th, and the chief prosecutor submitted his opinion on the merits of the case on May 30th.
The case will continue as follows: The party is expected to submit its defense on the merits of the case. Then, Yalcinkaya will do a verbal statement and AK Party will answer to this. Later the rapporteur assigned by the court will prepare his/her report on the merits of the case. In this phase, the chief prosecutor can submit further evidence and AK Party can submit additional material to the rapporteur. Then the report will be distributed to court members for consideration.
Later Constitutional Court President Hasim Kilic will set a date and the court will start hearing the case on its merits.
If AK Party requests extra time for its defence, the court will also assess this request.
According to the Constitution, at least 7 of the 11 members of the court have to vote for closure in order to shut down a political party.
In line with Article 69 of the Constitution, the court may instead decide to reduce or cut the financial aid given to this political party from the Treasury.