BAN ON RULING AKP WOULD BE ‘UNFORTUNATE’, U.S. SAYS

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.06.2008 16:52 GMT+04:00

The United States said last Thursday for the first time that a ban on
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, whose closure
case on charges of anti-secularism is currently being considered by
the Constitutional Court, would be "unfortunate."

But Matt Bryza, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and
Eurasian affairs, continued on to elucidate that his disappointment
with a ban would in no way compel Washington to issue "ultimata or
threats" on this matter. The most Bryza said during an address to the
Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy, a Turkish think tank,
was that, "probably, [it would be] quite unfortunate if the way the
political debate is resolved is through banning a party." He was
delivering the annual "Turgut Ozal lecture," named after the late
Turkish president who had worked for improved U.S.-Turkish relations.

"It’s up to Turkey to work it out. It’s not appropriate for the United
States to set any ultimata or threats," Bryza said.

Although Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has recently been
indirectly speaking out against the AKP’s closure, Bryza’s remark
that an AKP closure would be unfortunate, steals the show as the
strongest and the most explicit U.S. statement on the matter, to date,
the Turkish Daily News reports.