ANKARA - A court ruling that rejected a demand to ban Turkey's Islamist-rooted governing party is a victory for democracy in the country, senior party members said Wednesday.
"With this decision, the bar of democracy has been lifted up," the Speaker of Parliament Koksal Toptan was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency.
The Constitutional Court narrowly rejected the chief prosecutor's demand to outlaw the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) for undermining the country's secular system, punishing it with financial sanctions instead.
Court president Hasim Kilic said the ruling was still a "serious warning" to the AKP to respect the country's secular principles.
"We, the politicians, will of course evaluate the elements of this ruling very well and learn important lessons from it. We all have to do this," Toptan said.
Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul said the outcome was "of extraordinary importance in the history of our democracy and law," Anatolia reported.
"Turkey has been saved from uncertainty. Turkey will continue on its way in confidence and stability," he said in the western city of Izmir.
The party's survival boosted hopes that Turkey would make progress in its bid to join the European Union and resolve the Kurdish conflict in Turkey's southeast, where the AKP enjoys high popularity, he added.
State Minister Said Yazicioglu welcomed the ruling as the victory of "common sense."
su/jj
07/30/2008 16:37 GMT