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Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Court Will Dismantle Ruling AKP, Say Turks
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Turkey think the Constitutional Court will order the ruling party’s dissolution, according to a poll by ANDY-AR Social Research Center. 70.2 per cent of respondents think the Justice and Development Party (AKP) will be shut down as a result of an ongoing investigation by the Court.
Turkish voters renewed the Great National Assembly in July 2007. Final results gave the AKP 46.6 per cent of the vote and 341 seats in the legislature. Parties require at least 10 per cent of the vote to earn seats under the country’s proportional representation system. AKP member Recep Tayyip Erdogan has served as prime minister since March 2003.
On Mar. 14, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, Turkey’s chief prosecutor of the Court of Appeals, filed a lawsuit in the country’s Constitution Court demanding the closure of the AKP—Turkey’s largest and most popular party—for allegedly jeopardizing Turkey’s secularist nature by trying to implement Islamic rule. The case was brought to the Court after lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment to lift a ban on university students wearing the Muslim headscarf, viewed by secularists as a symbol of political Islam.
Erdogan has denied the accusations, saying that his party—which does have Islamist roots—is not trying to instate Islamic rule in the country. The AKP submitted its defence to the court on Apr. 30.
On Apr. 15, United States secretary of state Condoleezza Rice called for Turkey’s Constitutional Court to rule on this case within "Turkey’s secular, democratic context."
Polling Data
How do you expect the case currently before the Constitutional Court to end?
|
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) will be shut down |
70.2% |
|
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) will remain open |
12.3% |
|
Not sure |
17.5% |
Source: ANDY-AR Social Research Center
Methodology: Interviews with 3,200 Turk adults, conducted from Apr. 8 to Apr. 21, 2008. Margin of error is 2 per cent.