May 28, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1429

ISTANBUL, May 27: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said a prosecutor’s court bid to close the ruling AK Party was on a knife edge and the uncertainty was putting the brakes on foreign investment, newspapers reported on Tuesday.

The Constitutional Court agreed in March to take up the case to outlaw the Islamic-rooted party on charges of anti-secular activities. Financial markets have since been uneasy about the likelihood of protracted political uncertainty.

“This process is continuing on a knife edge. It is still not clear what will happen,” Milliyet newspaper quoted Erdogan as telling a group of reporters on a flight back from Lebanon.

“We want the case to end as soon as possible. Let’s not allow Turkey to be harmed or the economy to be troubled,” he said.

The chief prosecutor is scheduled to respond in the coming days to the AK Party’s initial defence in the case, which many commentators — as well as senior AK Party members — expect to result in its closure, and which Erdogan said was discouraging foreign investors.

“Global investment of $25 billion could have come. But now we are begging. The foreign investment which will come in 2008 will only be $13 billion,” the business-daily Referans reported him as saying.

The prosecutor is also calling for 71 AK Party members, including Erdogan, to be banned from belonging to a political party for five years.

The party rejects the charges of Islamist activities and says the accusations are politically motivated. The political turmoil generated by the case has intensified in the last week with a war of words between two of Turkey’s top courts and the government. President Abdullah Gul said on Monday the quarrel could cause lasting damage to the European Union-applicant country.

Turkish courts have closed down more than 20 parties in recent decades. If the AK Party is outlawed, and banned members like Erdogan could run for office as independents.—Reuters