GUL MUST STAND TRIAL IN FRAUD CASE: COURT

Peninsula On-line
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May 19 2009
Qatar

ANKARA: A Turkish court ruled yesterday that President Abdullah
Gul (pictured), should stand trial for a fraud case a decade ago,
a move that could fuel further animosity between the Islamist-rooted
government and the secularist establishment.

As president, Gul enjoys immunity. But the pursuance of an old case
involving millions of dollars of missing party funds could heighten
tension in the European Union candidate country.

Turkey’s ruling AK Party has long been at loggerheads with the
secularist establishment, including army generals, judges and
academics.

The decision by an Ankara heavy penalty court, that ran counter to
a no-trial recommendation by a prosecutor, came as a surprise and
traders said the news briefly reversed a buying trend in the Turkish
market, fuelling sales in Turkish bonds.

"It is the rule in the Turkish Republic’s constitution and laws that
everyone should stand trial," the court ruled.

Gul’s office rejected the court’s ruling, saying that the constitution
allowed the president to be put on trial only for treason.

A court of appeals now will have the final say.

"It doesn’t look like Gul’s future is at stake anywhere in the short
term but the secularist opposition could try to use this to create
noise and discredit the government," said Wolfango Piccoli from
Eurasia Group think-tank.

"Accusations of corruption might bite where accusations of undermining
secularism didn’t bite," he said.Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and his AK Party have been accused of corruption by the secularist
opposition who could use the case as fresh ammunition against a party
they bitterly oppose and accuse of harbouring a hidden political Islam.

The AK Party, which swept to power after the collapse of traditional
parties in 2002 following corruption allegations and economic
mismanagement, has rejected charges of graft.

Political passions are already running high in Turkey over a separate
investigation into an alleged right-wing group accused of plotting to
overthrow the government. Some hardline secularists see it as part
of a strategy to break the power of military and courts and promote
Islamist rule.

The AK Party ended the traditional parties’ decades-old grip on power
when it swept into government with a huge majority in 2002. A failed
2008 court attempt to close the AK Party plunged Turkey into political
chaos and hurt markets.

The fraud case dates back to the late 1990s, when the Islamist Welfare
Party, a predecessor to the AK Party, was accused of misappropriating
funds from the Treasury.

Former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, who was pushed out with the
help of the military in 1997 on accusations he pursued an Islamist
agenda, was found guilty five years ago for the same fraud case. Gul
pardoned him last year.

Critics accuse the AK Party, which embraces centre- right elements
and nationalists as well as religious conservatives, of violating
Turkey’s secular principles. The AK Party denies this and points to
economic successes and liberal political and economic reforms aimed
at bringing Turkey into the EU.

Gul, like Erdogan, denies any Islamist ambitions. He is highly regarded
in Europe where, as foreign minister, he steered the country into
membership negotiations. As a loyal deputy to Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan, Gulserved briefly as prime minister when the AK Party swept
to power in the November 2002 general election. Erdogan was barred
from standing in that election because of a previous jail conviction
for reading an Islamist poem. Erdogan became premier in March, 2003.

Gul became the first Turkish leader ever to set foot in neighbouring
Armenia last September, when, at the invitation of his Armenian
counterpart, he flew to Yerevan to watch his national side play
Armenia in a World Cup qualifying match.

The match heralded a fresh start in relations between Armenians and
Turks that have been marred by hostility for nearly 100 years.