There is no doubt concerning the future of Turkey, President Abdullah Gül said Wednesday, stressing that the European Union candidate country would continue on its path with determination and stability.

Gül, who is in New York to attend the ongoing 63rd session of the UN General Assembly, delivered a speech on Wednesday at the Foreign Policy Association (FPA), where he was given an award by the FPA for his efforts toward contributing to the Middle East peace process. Following the speech, the president responded to questions from the audience.
A member of the audience reminded Gül of the fact that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) recently escaped closure by the Constitutional Court on charges of being a "focal point for anti-secular activities" by only one vote and asked about the current state of political stability in Turkey, the Anatolia news agency reported.

"We had an internal issue and this was finalized with the court decision," Gül was quoted as saying by Anatolia in response to the question. "I would like to remind you that Turkey is a country that has started [membership] negotiations with the European Union. It is necessary to at least sufficiently fulfill the political Copenhagen criteria in order to be able to start the negotiations. We have made radical reforms on this path; we have amended the Constitution and laws; we have raised democratic standards and brought them closer to the European Union standards; we still need to do more and we are very determined to do so," Gül added.

In late July, the Constitutional Court ruled against closing the ruling party for having turned into a "focal point" of anti-secular activities, instead imposing partial financial penalties on the party. Six of the 11 members of the court voted to close the AK Party, one vote short of the number necessary to actually close down the party, while four others agreed that it had become a focal point of anti-secularism, but not so threatening as to deserve closure.

The ruling provided relief to the public in Turkey as tension and ambiguity dominated politics in the country after the top court decided to hear the case against the AK Party in March.

"Turkey is a country in which the future is predictable. There is no doubt that there are discussions in Turkey, too, from time to time like in every pluralist country and in democracies; sometimes these discussions may take place very harshly too, but rules are certain. Turkey will continue on its way in extreme stability; nobody should have a doubt on this," Gül also said.

Back in the first half of March, while asking the top court to close the AK Party on grounds that it had become a "focal point of anti-secular activities," a state prosecutor also called for a ban on 71 of its current and former high-level officials, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül, from belonging to a political party for five years.

The closure case has deepened divisions between the AK Party government and an elite group of military, judicial and academic officials who regard themselves as the guardians of the secular order in the country. Their power struggle with the AK Party flared up in January when the government lifted a ban on female students wearing the headscarf on university campuses. The Constitutional Court later annulled the reform.

A number of questions posed to Gül at the FPA meeting were concerning "secularism," Anatolia reported.

Turkey is a democratic, secular and social state that is ruled by law and all of these are fundamental principles for the country, Gül said, while also highlighting the importance of securing fundamental rights and freedoms. Religious freedom is a significant part of fundamental rights and freedoms and the separation of state and religious affairs is also appropriate, Gül said.

The majority of the population in Turkey is in agreement on these principles, the president stressed, noting that discussions on these issues from time to time should be considered natural. He also said he didn't believe that the principles of Islam and democracy contradict each other.

Last week, a country report on Turkey that was part of an annual report on international religious freedom drafted by the US State Department underlined defects in the country's Constitution vis-à-vis the implementation religious freedom, although the same Constitution, in principle, guarantees religious freedom in the country.

The 2008 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, covering the period from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008, notes that the Turkish Constitution provides for freedom of religion and that other laws and policies contribute to the generally free practice of religion, but stated that constitutional provisions regarding the integrity of the secular state restrict these rights.

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