The closure case was triggered by the government's move to abolish a long-standing ban on Muslim headscarves on university campuses. The case has been hovering over the AK Party like Damocles' sword since its launch in March. In his non-binding report Can counters the prosecutor's anti-secularism charges, advising the court that the AK Party's activities fall within the sphere of freedoms of thought and expression enshrined in the Constitution. Can's report also emphasizes that party closures are not acceptable in democracies except for parties resorting to the use of violence. With Can's report, debate has intensified over whether the AK Party will be closed down or not, with some saying that closure prospects have decreased while others still harbor pessimism, saying the case is driven by politics, not legality.Zaman's Mustafa Ünal is optimistic that the rapporteur's report will have more influence on the judges of the Constitutional Court than his previous reports have (they failed to successfully influence the court decisions), adding that it would not be so easy for the court to decide on the closure of the AK Party. "The court's ruling will have repercussions on many fields, from politics to economy and foreign policy, and the questioning of Turkey's justice system. It is not easy for them to assume such a big responsibility [by closing down the party]," says Ünal. Looking at the optimistic winds blowing in Ankara about the closure case, he says more people have begun to say that the prospects of AK Party closure have diminished. In his view, if the AK Party is closed down, everyone will have a price to pay. "The judges of the top court will certainly take this into consideration. The way of parties which derive their power from the public, such as the AK Party, should not be blocked with Ankara games; their way should be opened," suggests Ünal.
According to Radikal columnist Hasan Celal Güzel, the Constitutional Court will close down the AK Party at the case's end. His pessimism persists because, he says, the closure case is not a legal case but one that is politically motivated, a product of a power struggle being carried out through the politicized judiciary. "The anti-democratic sovereign forces, having witnessed the AK Party's election victory in the July 22 elections last year, want to perpetuate their power against the nation's will by carrying out a judicial coup," Güzel contends. The fact that nine judges at the Constitutional Court -- those who were appointed by former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer -- did not even reject the inclusion of President Abdullah Gül in the scope of this case strengthens Güzel's convictions about the closure of the AK Party.
Milliyet's Taha Akyol believes that the fate of the AK Party closure case will be a turning point in the history of the Turkish Republic. "It is evident that the AK Party closure case is the most significant and most critical closure case in our history. Because no such case in the past had so much influence on the direction of our democratic stability," he says. About the final court decision's influence on the Turkish judiciary, he says it will be a determining factor in whether or not the country's justice system becomes more liberal. "We will wait and see," adds Akyol.
