The AKP’s Central Decision and Executive Board is due to convene in Ankara to discuss the closure case to be heard by the Constitutional Court and the party’s strategy to deal with the issue.
One suggestion that has been floated in Ankara is that the AKP will seek to use its parliamentary majority to amend the constitution in order to remove the relevant articles that allow prosecutors to open closure cases against political parties.
It is also expected that the board will discuss changing the controversial article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which defines the crime of insulting “Turkishness” or Turkish identity. The article has been used against many leading Turkish intellectuals, journalists and authors and has been strongly criticized by human rights groups and the European Union, which says the law does not comply with EU standards.
