Ak Party Should Draw Conclusions From Top Court's Decision, European Official

YALOVA - A European Union (EU) official said on Thursday that Turkey's governing Justice and Development (AK) Party should draw conclusions from the Constitutional Court's recent ruling.
Speaking to reporters in Turkey's northwestern province of Yalova, Joost Lagendijk, co-chairman of Turkey-EU Joint Parliament Committee, said that Turkey's top court's ruling not to close down AK Party was a quite relieving development.
Such decision had a great importance with respect to the democratization process in Turkey, and closure of a governing party would not have been a democratic decision at all, Lagendijk said.
Lagendijk also said that AK Party should draw lessons from the Constitutional Court's decision.
He said the party should be aware of the need for a new constitution and it should carry on with the EU reform process. Most importantly, it should pay more attention to those who had concerns regarding secularism in Turkey, he said.
Lagendijk said that the court's decision was important in terms of Turkey's relations with EU as well.
If the Constitutional Court had ruled to close down AK Party, such a development would have complicated Turkey's EU process, he said.
(DO-MS)
(GEN)