(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The majority of people in Turkey would reject a ban on the country’s largest and ruling party, according to a poll by A&G Research. 53 per cent of respondents would oppose a potential court ruling dismantling the Justice and Development Party (AKP) for its alleged anti-secular activities.

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. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a member of the AKP, has served as prime minister since March 2003.

In March, 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 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 Jun. 5, the Constitutional Court ruled against the government’s proposed constitutional amendment to allow the use of the Muslim headscarf in universities. AKP legislators had tried to allow the garments as a matter of personal and religious freedom, but the court considered this to be against the country’s secularist mandate.

On Jun. 30, Wolfango Piccoli—an analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group—commented on the AKP’s case, saying, "If the party is closed we are going to have an early general election. All parties are getting ready for it. If the ruling comes in August or September we could have elections in November."

Polling Data

Do you support or oppose the closure of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) for anti-secular activities?

Source: A&G Research
Methodology: Interviews with 2,403 Turk adults in 33 provinces, conducted on Jun. 14 and Jun. 15, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

Archive Search

Over 19,300 Polls
Search the Angus Reid Global Monitor Polls & Research archive.