Etiket gul

Niyazi Dalyancı “I have no concern personally about facing a trial. But the reputation of the presidency should not be harmed,” President Abdullah Gul told journalists today commenting on a recent court ruling that might make him face a trial. A penal court in Ankara overruled a decision by the Ankara Chief Prosecutor that Gul has political immunity that protects him from standing trial at a 12-year-old case against his former Welfare Party (RP) regarding the cash given annually to all political parties from the state treasury to support their activities. In 1997, RP received the equivalent of 1,000,000 new Turkish currency but failed to return it after the Constitutional Court closed the party on charges of anti-secular activities. A later court ruling established that party administration produced forged documents to prove that the money had already been spent. Gul said that he was one of the ten deputy chairmen of RP at the time and he was not responsible for the financial affairs of the party. “I was in charge of foreign affairs,” he said. “When this subject was raised at the parliament when I was serving as prime minister and then as foreign minister I asked my immunity to be lifted. But at the time this was not done,” he explained. Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of RP was finally convicted to 2 years 4 months in prison on charges of forgery by a penal court in Ankara and the sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court. Erbakan was able to postpone going behind bars several times producing medical reports claiming that his health was not suitable to serve time in prison. Meanwhile, the Progress and Development Party (AKP) group passed legislation, dubbed “The Erbakan law” in the parliament that would allow convicts above the age of 75 to […]