A TURKISH court ruled yesterday that president Abdullah Gul should stand trial for a fraud case a decade ago, fuelling further animosity between the Islamist-rooted government and the secularist establishment.
As president, Gul enjoys immunity. But the pursuance of an old case involving millions of dollars of missing party funds could heighten tension in the European Union candidate country.
Turkey's ruling AK Party has long been at loggerheads with the
secularist establishment, including army generals, judges and academics.
The decision by an Ankara court, counter to a no-trial recommendation by a prosecutor, came as a surprise. "It is the rule in the Turkish Republic's constitution that everyone should stand trial," the court ruled.
Gul's office rejected the court's ruling, saying that the constitution allowed the president to be put on trial only for treason.
A court of appeal will now have the final say.
Prime minister Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party have been accused of corruption by the secularist opposition who could use the case as fresh ammunition against a party they accuse of harbouring a hidden political Islamic agenda.
Political passions are already running high over a separate investigation into an alleged right-wing plot to overthrow the government. Some hardline secularists see it as part of a strategy to break the power of the military and courts and promote Islamist rule.
