Turkey Pm Recep Tayyip Erdogan Accused of Insulting Court

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, today faced charges of allegedly insulting the country's constitutional court in a fresh clash between the Islamist-leaning government and secular authorities.

The head of Turkey's highest judicial body, Tulay Tugcu, said comments made by Mr Erdogan appeared to question the impartiality of the court and exceeded "boundaries of respect."

"The prime minister's remarks ignore the supremacy of law, contain threats, insults and hostility and expose our court as a target (for attack)," she told a rare news conference.

Mr Erdogan yesterday said the court's decision to cancel a presidential vote earlier this month was a "disgrace to the justice system".

Under Turkish law, it is a crime to insult state institutions, but as a member of parliament Mr Erdogan has immunity from prosecution.

In an interview with NTV, Mr Erdogan said the court's ruling that 367 deputies must be present in parliament for a presidential election to be valid was "a disgrace" that showed the court to be politically biased.

The court decision wrecked government efforts to have parliament elect foreign minister Abdullah Gul as Turkey's new president. The court accepted the main opposition party's contention that the vote was invalid because a quorum of two-thirds of Turkey's 550 MPs was not present.

The presidential election has now been postponed until after parliamentary polls set for July 22.

Turkey's secular elite, including leading judges and army generals, is opposed to Mr Gul, a former Islamist, becoming head of state, amid fears that he will try to erode the separation of state and religion. Both Mr Gul and Mr Erdogan strongly reject the claim.

Earlier this month, prosecutors conducted a similar investigation after Mr Erdogan referred to the same constitutional court ruling as "a bullet fired at democracy".

In early May, Turkey's ruling party, the Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP), called for early elections to defuse the country's biggest political crisis in a decade, rooted in the fissure between the country's secular establishment and its moderate Islamist government.

The crisis kicked off when Mr Erdogan picked Mr Gul to be Turkey's next president. Parliament, which chooses the president in four votes, picked Mr Gul in the first ballot. But the vote was boycotted by the opposition, who went to court seeking to overturn the verdict.