Parteiverbotsverfahren in der Türkei: der Fall AKP
The Procedure of Closing Political Parties in Turkey: The AKP-Case

Summary/Abstract: Since 1961, the Turkish system has been laid down in the constitution as well as in statutory legislation. Under the constitution, various sanctions can be applied on political parties which do not comply with the rules. If a political party comes into conflict with the constitution and if its program and activities are focusing on unconstitutional aims and targets, it can be closed. The example of the governing Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP), which has been confronted with closing proceedings, has shown how the Turkish system works. First of all, the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation has the task and duty to supervise the legality of the activities of the political parties. If such activities are not in line with the constitution, the prosecutor (Attorney General) has to file a suit to the Constitutional Court, which follows the rules and regulations of the Criminal Procedure Code. Thus, the closing procedure has some important similarities with a criminal court case. Second, the Constitutional Court has to evaluate the application of the Attorney General. In the end, not necessarily but regularly in practice, the Court can decide with seven out of eleven judges on the closure of the political party. In the AKP case, the majority in favour of a closure was only six to five, therefore the Court was only able to impose a fine and exclude the AKP from public funding for a while. The European Court of Human Rights has given some guidelines as to the conditions under which political parties may be prohibited. The Turkish procedure of closing political parties itself has not raised any objections of this Court. – In the essence the Turkish system is an interesting case for possible conflicts between the Rule of Law and the Principle of Democracy.

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