Diyarbakir - A Turkish court yesterday convicted the former prime minister and Islamic leader, Necmettin Erbakan, of "provoking hatred" in a 1994 speech and sentenced him to a year in jail. The Diyarbakir State Security Court verdict further dimmed Erbakan's chances of returning to active parliamentary politics and provoked criticism from the main opposition Islamic party.
Erbakan (74) has been banned from party politics since 1998, when a high court outlawed his Welfare Party for attempting to subvert the secular constitution.