ANKARA, Turkey - The role of Turkey's governing party in promoting European Union membership proves that it is not anti-secular, a party member said Thursday.
The comments come a day after the Constitutional Court decided against banning the Justice and Development Party over allegations that it was trying to impose Islamic rule.
The party, which has its roots in Turkey's Islamic movement, "has contributed the most to Turkey's European Union membership goal," deputy party leader Sadullah Ergin told CNN-Turk television. "We have worked day and night for it, how can we be the focal point of anti-secular activity?"
The court ruled against the ban, but delivered a strong warning to the party by cutting off millions in state aid.
"We did not deserve to be deprived of half of the treasury funding," Ergin said.
The court's decision averted political and economic chaos for the country, which is vying for EU membership and came as a reprieve for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his allies.
A ban would have severely damaged Turkey's image as a democracy because the ruling party won a landslide in elections last year. EU leaders had said the ruling party's fate should be decided by voters, not judges.
The case was the latest battle between Erdogan's government and secularists backed by the military and the judiciary who consider themselves protectors of a secular system introduced by modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
In March, Turkey's chief prosecutor asked the court to disband Erdogan's party and bar him and 70 other party members from joining any other political party for five years. President Abdullah Gul was also on the prosecutor's list.
The prosecutor cited as evidence, among other things, the ruling party's attempt to lift a decades-old ban on the wearing of head scarves at universities as proof that it was trying to scrap secularism. The measure was later overturned.
Many expressed relief at the court's ruling and urged Turkey to press ahead with EU-backed reforms that have been delayed partly due to the political strife and partly from Turkish skepticism about the need for changes.
The court's decision against the ban averted a political crisis, said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
"The ruling party should honor its election promises now and revive the long-stalled reform of human rights in Turkey," Sinclair-Webb said.
