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ANKARA - ''The armed attack against the Council of State is not an incident from which a certain political view will gain,'' said Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc.
Speaking to reporters at the parliament, Arinc qualified this attack as a ''grave attack against judiciary and judges'', and said, ''nobody should try to gain benefits from this grave incident.''
''We will follow developments, and support all initiatives for the severest punishment to the assailant. But, I think that it is wrong to create discussions which may cause a political tension by using the expression of 'military intervention' or by making similar comments,'' he noted.
Arinc stated, ''Turkey is a state of law and a strong country. We will not permit any incidents or behaviors which will harm Turkey's secular and democratic structure.''
''I can say that we face a fully provocative act. This incident will be illuminated, and those who are responsible will be punished. Such an attack can never be justified,'' he added.
-ERDOGAN'S COMMENTS-
''No matter where the attack came from, today's attack on the Turkish Council of State is an attack on Turkish democracy,'' said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The attack came at a time when Turkey has begun to prove itself with reforms in human rights and democracy, noted Erdogan. ''Today's attack is unacceptable and must be severely punished,'' stressed Erdogan.
Erdogan answered questions from the press corps after a joint news conference with Finnish PM Matti Vanhanen in Ankara today.
Asked what he thinks on the attack on the Council of State after a decision made on a nursery teacher who was wearing a headscarf, Erdogan remarked that, no matter which side this attack came from, it must be strongly condemned. ''It is too early to state why the attack took place,'' indicated Erdogan.
The Council of State earlier ruled that the nursery teacher can't enter the nursery school inside a garrison by wearing headscarf.
In response to a question by a Finnish journalist on whether his former comments on the decision of the Council of State on headscarf had an impact on today's attack, Erdogan replied that the case is being studied by Turkish police. ''Associating today's attack with any side would not be right. We can not accept any incident designed to hurt stability in Turkey. Today's attack must be strongly condemned and cursed,'' told Erdogan.
