Democracy at work..
Moves to outlaw Turkish
Islamic party
Merve Kavakci was evicted from parliament for wearing headscarf
Turkey's chief prosecutor has begun moves to ban the
Islamic Virtue Party on grounds that it is trying to
overthrow the country's secular constitution.
Opening his case against the party in the constitutional
court, Prosecutor Vural Savas said Virtue was trying to
replace the constitution with Islamic law.
The move follows the resignation of the Virtue Party's
chairman, Aydin Menderes, in a growing row over the
wearing of a banned Muslim headscarf in parliament by a
party deputy.
Mr Savas was behind last year's closure of a previous
Islamist party, Welfare, which briefly led the Turkish
Government.
Most of the Welfare party's deputies regrouped in the
Virtue Party behind a new leadership and investigations
have been under way for some time to establish whether
Virtue is a direct continuation of the banned party.
The party won more than 100 seats in last month's
general election.
The role of religion
On Sunday, Merve Kavakci, a newly-elected woman
Virtue Party deputy, re-ignited debate over the place
Islam holds in Turkey when she wore the Muslim
headscarf in parliament.
Turkey, which is officially secular, regards the wearing of
the Muslim headscarf as a political, pro-Islamic
statement and has banned them in public institutions.
Ms Kavakci and party leader, Recai Kutan, have refused
to back down.
Dividing the country
Announcing his resignation as Virtue chairman on
Thursday, Mr Menderes said he felt that Virtue - the third
biggest party in parliament - was bent on self-destruction
over the issue.
He said both sides of the political and religious fence
were using the issue to divide the country.
"If I thought Virtue could take a fresh and wiser path I
would have continued my job," he said. The son of a
former prime minister, Mr Menderes, was seen as a
moderate voice in the Virtue Party.
Party faces investigation
Prosecutors are examining whether Ms Kavakci's
actions amount to incitement to racial or religious
hatred.
Angry MPs forced the newly-elected deputy to leave the
parliament building before she could take her oath of
office.
Since then the issue has dominated Turkey, with
newspapers probing her past.
Reports in the country's mainstream media have
attacked her for allegedly calling for an Islamic holy war
in Turkey and opposing Turkish plans to join the
European Union because it is composed of mainly
Christian nations.
news.bbc.co.uk
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