BY OZDEMIR INCE
HURRIYET- Who has trapped whom? Did the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) trap the Justice and Development Party (AKP) or did they both trap Turkey? Actually, it doesn`t matter, because both Turkey and the European Union are trapped. Let me take the EU`s warnings and threats into consideration and list what will happen to us, in case the Constitutional Court closes the AKP:
1. The European Parliament will decide to suspend -- to tell the truth -- stop Turkey`s EU membership talks and inform the Commission, consisting of 27 commissioners, on its decision.
2. The Commission will present this decision to the Council of Ministers, which will decide to stop membership talks in line with the European Parliament`s decision.
3. All of 27 member states will have to cast a positive vote so that Turkey`s membership talks can restart. In case even one member rejects it, membership talks will never be opened again.
4. Even if restarting membership talks is slightly possible, the price to be paid by Turkey in return for this will be very high.
The above-mentioned four articles aren`t a utopian scenario, but an irony of fate the future of which depends on the decision to be taken by the Constitutional Court. Actually, the irony of fate would be acting naively, because it`s quite clear. If a party, especially a ruling party, violates the Constitution and the Political Parties Law, this is what will happen. What`s the fault committed by the chief prosecutor and the Constitutional Court? If a ruling party is closed, the European Parliament and the EU would criticize it harshly. What else would they do? But astonished reactions from the AKP show that deputies still live in a world of dreams.
MHP leader Devlet Bahceli said that none of the parties which had been closed before, has grown again, and that only one party, which had been disintegrated, has grown and that this situation was very meaningful. Bahceli seems to be making fun of the AKP and Turkey.
AKP deputy Vahit Erdem who said that we should remove concerns of 53% of Turks and those who agree with him and who applaud him for his common sense are also wrong, just like Constitutional Court chairman who said that the fear of the society can`t be ignored. %53 of Turks wants not the removal of concerns, but all parties to comply with the Constitution and laws. If this happens, everything would be alright.
The Dutch Christian Democrat Parliamentarian Ria Oomen-Rujiten said that secularism wasn`t a toy and urged the Turkish government to continue its reforms and respect pluralism and diversity in democratic and secular Turkey. But it`s too late now. This warning should have been made since 2005. Meanwhile, Constitutional Court`s deputy chairman Osman Paksut screamed to the entire world that courts are independent. Now it`s too late. Nothing will be the same again.