COURT. ALL RISE PLEASE!

Turkey is again being swept by a wave of internal political friction. Not, this time, generated by the opposition, but by the country's General Prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya. He has accused the country's leadership of the gradual Islamization of government organizations. This was the reason he cited in support of his lawsuit to the country's Constitutional Court, in which he demanded that a ban be imposed on the activities of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and that 71 members of the AKP should be banned from political activities for five years.

The General Prosecutor's "black list" includes not only activists from the ruling party, but also incumbent President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and former speaker of Parliament Bulent Arinc. In the General Prosecutor's opinion, they have all taken steps which undermine the "secular foundations" of the 85-year-old Turkish Republic. According to the 160-page suit, the constitutional amendments which lifted the ban on wearing headscarves (burkahs) at universities were the latest step in a chain of activities which jeopardize the secular traditions of the Turkish state.

It is notable that, for the first time in Turkish history, a suit has been filed with a Turkish court to ban the political activities of the president - who is considered to have legal immunity. In other words, even if the verdict is the General Prosecutor's favour, it will affect Abdullah Gul only in six years' time.

The storm of the first few days subsided quickly, and the expected reactions followed: the AKP, which has a majority in Parliament, immediately initiated amendments to three articles of the constitution (articles 68, 69 and 149). The goal was to make banning the activities of political parties as complex a procedure as possible, strengthening the immunity of the Prime Minister and members of parliament, and limiting the powers of the General Prosecutor.

The law, however, has no retrospective effect, and the General Prosecutor's suit to the Constitutional Court will be heard. It remains unclear how long it will take to hand down the decision. There are several stages, but the hearing has already started.

However, given the current balance of political power in Turkey, the likelihood of the General Prosecutor's initiative being upheld seems quite slim. Because the very essence of the accusations against the AKP lie in the political, not legal, realm.

This means that Erdogan's allies will have a strong case. If the Constitutional Court does not uphold the General Prosecutor's charges, very few people in Turkey will be able to accuse the AKP of aspirations to build an "Islamic state" in Turkey. And, as a result, the opposition will again be stripped of an important lever which attracts and unites Erdogan's opponents today.

On the other hand, taking into account the Constitutional Court's record, the hearing will be a lengthy one, which means that the ruling party will start its 2009 municipal elections campaign as a "politically offended" contender. In other words, the General Prosecutor's Office has unwillingly presented Erdogan and his supporters with a "great PR campaign."

Even the leading opposition forces have condemned the General Prosecutor's move.  Devlet Bahceli, chairman of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), who is leader of the third largest faction of the Turkish Parliament, admitted that if the AKP activities are decreed illegal, a "horrifying precedent" would be set because, after that decision, every citizen would be able to dispute any government decision made after 2002, when Erdogan's party first formed a Cabinet. Parliamentary decisions of recent years will come into question. In the opinion of the opposition party leader, General Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya should have taken this into account when preparing his suit for the Constitutional Court. "From the moment of the establishment of the Constitutional Court in Turkey, the activities of 24 parties have been outlawed, but the majority of them have continued to function under different names. These types of decisions can only harm democratic development," Bahceli said, adding that the decision on termination of the activities of any particular party can be made only by the public when they go to the ballot box, whereas the only exception to this rule could be instances of conniving with terrorism.

Even the outlawed pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party was against the ban on Erdogan's party because it realized that, even if it changed its name, it would invariably share the fate of the incumbent prime minister's supporters. At the same time, only the Republican People's Party and its ally, the Leftist Democratic Party, openly support the General Prosecutor.

As for the Turkish General Staff, which has previously played an active role in shutting down some pro-Islamist parties, the military command remains neutral on this issue for now. The international community's dramatically negative reaction to the General Prosecutor's initiative should also be reckoned with.

So, the Turkish General Prosecutor has created a tough problem for political circles in the country. Although many people share his opinion that there is an increasingly noticeable trend towards Islamization in the country, they cannot support the suit against the ruling party. It is premature to talk about further developments. One thing is clear, however: the General Prosecutor's suit will sharpen internal political discord in Turkey.