Source:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full.../1356788980412
Quote:
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The banning of the Refah (Welfare) Party by Turkey's Constitutional Court on 16 January 1998 was not unexpected. Under the terms of the ruling, Refah's leader, Necmettin Erbakan, and five other deputies, were expelled from parliament and prohibited from engaging in political activity for five years. The decision underlines the continued hostility of the Turkish establishment, especially its military élite, towards political Islam. Their actions, however, are likely to contribute to a worsening of the country's relations with both the European Union, its Arab neighbours and Iran. More worryingly, the Court's verdict is likely to strengthen the hand of extremists who believe that Turkey's democracy has no place for Islam.
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The banning of the Refah (Welfare) Party by Turkey's Constitutional Court on 16 January 1998
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in four applications (nos. 41340/98, 41342/98, 41343/98 and 41344/98) against the Republic of Turkey lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission”) under former Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a political party registered under Turkish law, Refah Partisi (the Welfare Party – hereinafter “Refah”), and three Turkish nationals, Necmettin Erbakan, Şevket Kazan and Ahmet Tekdal, (“the applicants”) on 22 May 1998.
2. The applicants were represented by Mr Yasar Gürkan, a lawyer practising in Istanbul, and Mr Laurent Hincker, a lawyer practising in Strasbourg, France. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Co-Agent, Mr Ergun Özbudun, a university lecturer.
3. The applicants alleged in particular that the dissolution of Refah by the Turkish Constitutional Court and the suspension of certain political rights of the other applicants, who were leaders of Refah at the material time, had breached Articles 9, 10, 11, 14, 17 and 18 of the Convention and Articles 1 and 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention.
4. The applications were transmitted to the Court on 1 November 1998, when Protocol No. 11 to the Convention came into force (Article 5 § 2 of Protocol No. 11).
5. The applications were allocated to the Third Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). Within that Section, the Chamber that would consider the case (Article 27 § 1 of the Convention) was constituted as provided in Rule 26 § 1 of the Rules of Court.
6. The Chamber decided to join the applications (Rule 43 § 1).
7. By a decision of 3 October 2000, it declared them partly admissible.
8. The Government filed additional written observations on 11 December 2000.
9. A hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 16 January 2001 (Rule 59 § 2).
Source: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-59617%22]}
