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Court could soon take on case against ruling party

A top court could decide this week whether to hear a case for a ban of Turkey's Islamic-oriented ruling party, in a dispute that threatens to deepen political divisions, hurt the economy and slow an already troubled bid to join the EU.

Over the past year, the battle between a democratically elected government led by pious Muslims and its opposition, loosely defined as the secular elite, has shifted from parliament, to the ballot box, to the courts. Turkey's military, an instigator of coups in past decades, has warned that secular ideals are in peril, though an armed intervention seems unlikely for now.

Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, chief prosecutor of the High Court of Appeals, said in his complaint that 71 people, including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, should be banned from politics for five years.

Yalcinkaya cited the government's efforts to lift a ban on the wearing of Islamic head scarves in universities, attempts to roll back restrictions on religious education and allegedly anti-secular comments by ruling party officials.

The head of the 11-member Constitutional Court, Hasim Kilic, said judges could meet tomorrow to discuss the argument for the dissolution of the Justice and Development Party on grounds that it was trying to scrap secular principles enshrined in the country's constitution.

"Turkey is increasingly straying from peace. It won't do anyone any good to raise tension in society," Kilic, a 58-year-old economist, told local reporters in an appeal for national unity.

The court's rapporteur, Osman Can, sent his assessment of the 162-page document to the judges on Thursday night, a court official who has seen Can's report said.

Can said the court should hear the case, but ask the prosecutor's office to provide more evidence, the official said. The Hurriyet newspaper reported in its Friday edition that the rapporteur also said "closing down parties is not compatible with democratic systems."
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