Erbakan argues for party's future

Ankara - The Turkish Islamist leader, Mr Necmettin Erbakan, told the constitutional court yesterday that a secularist attempt…

Ankara - The Turkish Islamist leader, Mr Necmettin Erbakan, told the constitutional court yesterday that a secularist attempt to ban his Welfare Party for sedition violated international standards of human rights. "Religious freedoms and the freedom of conscience are protected by states, but here we are using these issues to discuss closing a party," an Islamist source quoted him as telling a closed session of the court.

Mr Erbakan (72), is fighting for his political life against a legal attempt to ban the Welfare Party.