Premier defends ruling party
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned a bid by state prosecutors to shut down his ruling Justice and Development Party as an attack on democracy and political stability and vowed to resist it.
A state prosecutor asked the Constitutional Court on Friday to disband the Justice and Development Party because he said it was trying to destroy secularism and turn Turkey into an Islamic state.
He also sought to ban Erdogan, President Abdullah Gul and scores of other party officials from politics for five years, a move that drew criticism from the European Union, which the Turkish government aims to join.
Erdogan strongly denies claims that his party has an Islamist agenda.
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