Court backs Turkey party ban

STRASBOURG, France -- The European Court of Human Rights has upheld Turkey's decision to ban an Islamist party because it had violated the country's secular principles.

The Refah (Welfare) party, which became Turkey's single largest party in a 1995 general election, and three of its former leaders had argued that Ankara's decision to ban it in 1998 contravened the European Human Rights convention.

Necmettin Erbakan, a former prime minister and Refah party head, and two other former Refah leaders, Sevket Kazan and Ahmet Tekdal, had also contested the decision by Turkey's Constitutional Council to remove them from parliament and ban them from political life for five years.

But the European Court judges on Tuesday voted four to three in favour of rejecting the case, saying the ban was acceptable under Article 11 of the Human Rights convention, which enshrines the right to assembly and expression so long as this does not endanger the fundamental interests of a democratic society.

"The sanctions imposed on the claimants can reasonably be considered as responding to an imperative social need for the protection of the democratic society," the judges said in a written ruling, Reuters reported.

"The idea that a theocratic regime might be established is not completely without foundation in Turkey."

The decision represents a rare win for the Turkish government, which is regularly slammed in human rights cases.

Refah, which was outlawed on the grounds that its leaders sought to institute Islamic law and lift a ban on the wearing of head scarves by women students and civil servants, can appeal against the decision.

Kazan called the verdict a surprise and said he and Tekdal would appeal.

"In the past, the European Court used as a guideline the question of involvement in violence, but now even suspicions are considered enough to close a party," The Associated Press quoted Kazan as saying.

Turkish Islamists said the verdict violated principles of free speech that the European Court was supposed to uphold.

Seref Malkoc, a former Welfare Party lawmaker who is now an independent member of Parliament in Ankara told AP: "Europe has trampled on its own principles."

The European court said the Welfare Party under Erbakan wanted to establish Islamic law, which it said "was in marked contrast to the values embodied in the (European) Convention."

The Islamic movement reached its height in 1996 when Erbakan became prime minister in a coalition government.

That coalition fell after just a year in office under heavy pressure from Turkey's powerful army.

Ilter Turan, professor of political science at Istanbul's Bilgi University, said the court's verdict could mark the end of Erbakan's political career.