|
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Accuses EU Court of Bias
CAIRO, Aug 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement accused the European Court of Human Rights Thursday of bias against Muslims for backing Turkey's decision to outlaw the Islamic Refah (Welfare) party.
"Europe has revealed its extreme hatred and hostility towards Muslims," said the Brotherhood, which is banned but partly tolerated in Egypt, in a statement commenting on the ruling, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"The banning of the Turkish Welfare Party was not only a military demand, but also a decision that had been long sought by foreign interests," the statement added.
"Turkey is currently passing through an economic crisis that has obliged it to resort to foreign debts making it [lose] its ability to have an independent political and economic decision," the statement said, referring to the Turkish-Israeli alliance.
The decision to ban the party in 1998 for unconstitutional behavior prompted international criticism saying that Turkey was acting undemocratically.
As it attempts to join the European Union, Turkey's human rights record is a particularly sensitive issue for its leaders and military.
For its part, the European Court of Human Rights ruling has triggered anger from Islamic parties in Turkey.
Turkey's newly established pro-Islamic Saadet (Felicity) Party on Tuesday condemned the ruling upholding Ankara's decision to dissolve the Islamic Refah (Welfare) Party, calling it unfair and against European human rights norms, news agencies reported.
"The European Court of Human Rights has disowned its own principles. This is double standards and a political decision," said Mehmet Bekaroglu, deputy chairman of Saadet.
The ruling showed that the "European Convention of Human Rights is valid only for certain countries," Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying.
Speaking on the part of Welfare, Bulent Arinc, a leading former Welfare deputy, told Anatolia, "The European court has deviated from international norms and passed a verdict designed for Turkey. This is interesting."
The Strasbourg-based court said in a ruling Tuesday that Turkey had not violated an article on freedom of assembly and association, since Welfare had declared its intention to introduce Islamic law, which was against the convention.
The court said some of the values advocated by Welfare Party leaders, such as planning to introduce Islamic law and legitimizing a holy war to achieve religious ends, were not compatible with the European rights convention.
Welfare is not the only Islamic party banned in Turkey; about 40 other Islamic parties have been banned in the past 40 years in the mainly Muslim country, where a strict secular regime is in force.
Last month, Turkey's constitutional court outlawed the Virtue Party, the main opposition party that holds 102 seats out of 550 in the parliament, on fears that a contrary decision would encourage other Muslim movements.
The court accused Virtue of being a "focal point" of anti-secular activities and of being an illegal continuation of the outlawed Welfare Party, which briefly held power five years ago.
Virtue has always denied the charge, emphasizing that it is not an extension of Welfare.
|
