A senior AK Party executive, speaking with Today's Zaman on condition of anonymity, said the AK Party's verbal defense can be described as a manifesto of democracy. The verbal defense, to be presented by Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek and the AK Party parliamentary group deputy chairman, Yozgat deputy Bekir Bozdağ, will place special emphasis on the unity and integrity of the country. The defense also aims to reveal the contradictions in the chief prosecutor's indictment, his lack of confidence in the law and his ignoring precedents set by the court, with examples.

The senior AK Party executive indicated that the party’s defense team will stress that if it is closed down Turkey’s geographical division will be accelerated. The AK Party will reiterate that it is the only party in the last 28 years to have received electoral support from 80 out of 81 provinces and that is impossible to argue that a party with such electoral support has become the focal point of anti-secularism.

In the oral argument made to the Constitutional Court in connection with the closure case on July 1, Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya, chief prosecutor of Supreme Court of Appeals, argued that the AK Party is attempting to bring the country under Shariah rule and that there is a near and open threat in this respect. The AK Party’s response to this assessment by the chief prosecutor will be harsh. The party will explain that between 2002 and 2007, its government drafted eight packages of reforms designed for further harmonization with the European Union and that all of these packages were enacted by Parliament with the support of the opposition party Republican People’s Party (CHP). The AK Party representatives will underline the fact these packages were intended to ensure further integration of Turkey with the world. They will explain that the AK Party has no goal or agenda other than expanding human rights and freedoms, including the lifting of the headscarf ban at the nation’s universities.

The AK Party’s verbal defense team will also respond to the claim made by the chief prosecutor that the criteria formulated by the Venice Commission cannot be applied in the AK Party’s case. They will assert that the chief prosecutor ignores the secularism, human rights and freedoms criteria in contemporary Western countries, but embraces a form of secularism specific to Turkey, which is a significant contradiction.

They will indicate that the economic, social, cultural and legal reforms undertaken by the AK Party during its six years of governance have taken Turkey closer to the goal set by the nation’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, of attaining the level of contemporary civilization.

They will also respond to the chief prosecutor’s claim that there is a link between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Yasin al-Qadi, who he claims is listed by the UN as suspected of supporting terrorist organizations. They will assert that al-Qadi has been removed from this list by court order.

Çiçek and Bozdağ, who will make the verbal statement to the court, will be assisted by Sadullah Ergin, the deputy chairman of the AK Party’s parliamentary group. Ergin will lend support to them behind the scenes. The verbal statement is a concise version of the preliminary and written defense previously submitted by the AK Party.

In the verbal statement, the closure case will be referred to as “the blow to Turkey’s future.” The AK Party’s representatives will suggest that during the six years of AK Party rule, Turkey’s prestige has increased in the international arena and that Turkey has made great economic progress. They will maintain that a government with such an outstanding performance cannot reasonably be claimed to be aiming to take Turkey backward.

The AK Party will also accuse Yalçınkaya of attempting to isolate Turkey from the contemporary world with the closure case. Çiçek will respond to the questions the members of the court may ask. Çiçek prepared the defense of the now-defunct Virtue Party (FP), previously the subject of a similar closure case, and made the verbal defense in court.

What happens next?

After this process is complete, the Constitutional Court’s rapporteur, Osman Can, will compile the evidence and statements and prepare his report on the content of the case. During this time, the chief prosecutor and the AK Party may submit additional evidence or statements. After the report is finished, it will be submitted to the 11 members of the high court, and Constitutional Court President Haşim Kılıç will determine a court date for the case. Given its existing workload, the court is expected to give its decision in mid-August. According to the Constitution, in order for the top court to ban the AK Party, it needs the approval of a qualified majority, namely seven out of its 11 members. The Constitutional Court can either close the party or deprive it partially or completely of Treasury funds.

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