Liberals react to Court ruling on AKP

4.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 30th Jul 2008

ALDE group leader, Graham Watson, and the vice-president of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, Andrew Duff, have welcomed Wednesday's (30 July) court decision not to ban Turkey's ruling AK Party.

"ALDE welcomes the prudence shown by the Turkish Supreme Court in not closing the AK Party. It is a step forward for parliamentary democracy in Turkey," Mr Duff said, speaking from Istanbul. "This implies that accession negotiations between Turkey and the EU can continue."

"This decision is a sign of Turkey's continued journey on the path to modern democracy. It should help to get EU accession negotiations back on track and counter the claims of Christian conservatives that Turkey has no place in the EU," Mr Watson added. "This is a positive step forward for EU-Turkey negotiations."

ENDS