Page "Justice and Development Party (Turkey)" Paragraph 27

At an international press conference in Spain, the prime minister answered a question of a journalist by saying, " What if the headscarf is a symbol?

Even if it were a political symbol, does that give the right to ban it?

Could you bring prohibitions to symbols?

" These statements led to a joint proposal of the AK Party and the MHP for changing the constitution and the law to lift a ban on young women wearing headscarves at universities.

This was one of the main reasons for Turkey's chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya, to ask the Constitutional Court to close the AK Party.

A court-appointed rapporteur, Osman Can, advocated in his report that the Court should reject the closure case.

Four members voted to cut public funding for the party, while the court's chairman voted against closing it down.

The court rejected the demands of the prosecutor and did not ban the party.

The European Union welcomed the decision by Turkey's highest court not to ban the ruling AK Party.