The Supreme Court Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya presented his viewpoint regarding the matter of substance of the closure case of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to the Constitutional Court.

According to the internet site of the Hürriyet newspaper, Yalçınkaya presented his viewpoint on the last day of the legal period of one month.

Prosecutor’s viewpoint on the matter of substance will be sent to AKP and they will present a defense regarding the substance within one month. Next will come Yalçınkaya’s verbal explanation and AKP’s verbal defense, the dates of which will be announced later. During this time, all the requests for extra time will evaluated by the Constitutional Court.

After this stage, the rapporteur of the Constitutional Court will collect all the information and the documents about the case and write his/her report about the matter of substance of the case. While these procedures are taking place, both the Chief Prosecutor and AKP will be able to present additional evidence or written additional defense.

For closure 7 out of 11 members must say yes

After the report is given to the eleven members of the Constitutional Court, the President of the Court Haşim Kılıç will determine a meeting day, on which the members will start discussing the matter of substance of the case.

The case will be decided by the eleven members. In case one of the members is missing or retired, the most senior of the four alternate members will replace the missing member.

According to the Constitution a qualified majority is needed to close a political party. Therefore 7 out of 11 members of the Constitutional Court must approve the closure. (GG)