Turkey's ruling party escapes ban

But the judges did cut half the AKP's treasury funding for this year.

The AKP, which won a huge poll victory last year, denies it wants to create an Islamist state by stealth. It called the case an attack on democracy.

The powerful military sees itself as the guardian of the modern secular state founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Court president Hasim Kilic said the financial sanctions imposed on the AKP were a "serious warning".

The court case followed a series of confrontations between the AKP, which has Islamist roots, and the secular elite. Turkish secularists have staged huge anti-AKP rallies.

The party's attempt to allow Islamic headscarves to be worn at universities was highly controversial. Last month the constitutional court said the move to lift the existing headscarf ban violated the secular constitution.

The AKP portrays itself as a moderate, conservative, pro-Western party that advocates a liberal market economy and Turkish membership in the European Union.[3] The party's detractors accuse it of harboring a hidden Islamist agenda due to its deep roots in the religious community and the affiliations of some of its members with banned Islamic parties (RP,FP), although little evidence for this has been provided.