BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia - The European Union's enlargement chief said Saturday he was very concerned about efforts to ban Turkey's Islamic-oriented ruling party and suggested the issue could have ramifications for Turkey's EU membership bid.

A top Turkish court could decide as early as next week whether to hear a case to shut down the Justice and Development Party and ban 71 people, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, from politics for five years.

"In a normal European democracy this kind of political issue should be debated in Parliament and decided in the ballot room, not in court," EU Enlargement Commission Olli Rehn said at a news conference in Slovenia, where a meeting of EU foreign ministers was held.

He said he was observing the case with "growing concern and disbelief" and the dispute has revealed serious shortcomings in the Turkish constitution.

The head of Turkey's 11-member Constitutional Court, Hasim Kilic, said judges could meet as early as Monday to discuss the argument for the dissolution of the Justice and Development Party on grounds that it was trying to scrap secular principles enshrined in the country's constitution.

Rehn also warned that if a country breaches its democratic obligations, in this case freedom to form a political party, the EU is obliged to reconsider the accession process.

"I hope that judges in the constitutional court will consider Turkey's long-term goal" of joining the EU and becoming a functioning European democracy, Rehn said.

Turkey's ruling party has a majority in the 550-member parliament, and its members could likely regroup in a new party in order to lead the government despite the disruption of any closure.

The government says the case is a desperate act by opponents in the judiciary and other state sectors who resent the erosion of their traditional power.

The government also sees it as a blow to Turkey's efforts to model its democratic institutions on Western standards as a condition of EU membership.

Turkey's EU campaign, which is expected to last many years, has already been damaged by French and German misgivings and a dispute over the divided island of Cyprus.

It has also been hurt by freedom of speech issues and divisions within the predominantly Muslim nation that have sapped domestic support for the project.

Rehn said it was important for the government to "keep its calm" and continue implementing reforms demanded by the EU.

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