ANKARA, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's Constitutional Court announced late Wednesday that the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party was not banned, despite allegations that the party may undermine secularism in the country.

    However, the AK party escaped the ban from participating in politics not without a bruise: it will be deprived of half of the state funding it receives.

    "Six members of the Constitutional Court voted for closure of the political party while four others voted for depriving the party of the financial assistance of the Treasury instead of its dissolution," Hasim Kilic, president of the judicial body, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Anatolia news agency.

    According to the Turkish Constitution, a qualified majority of votes is required to disband a political party, thus the AK party only narrowly escaped the ban which requires seven out of the 11 votes.

    Kilic said the reduction of financial resources was a "serious warning" to the AK party, which should learn its lessons from the court ruling.

    The court ruling, which was seen as "too lenient" by Turkey's hard line secularist forces, drew positive comments from the West.

    The United States expressed confidence Wednesday in Turkey's democracy after the announcement of the court ruling.

    "We have confidence in Turkey and confidence in the Turkish people and their democracy," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

    "The court has rendered an opinion, and we're going to continue to work with this government. We work quite well with them," McCormack said.

    Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, said, "Turkey is leaving a tense situation and we very much hope that the decision by the court will contribute to restoring political stability."

    Turkey's Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya launched legal proceedings to outlaw the AK party on March 14 amid rising concerns within the country that the ruling party has "gravely undermined the secular system."

    The AK party has pushed through in parliament a constitutional amendment in February, aiming to lift a constitutional ban on headscarves at public universities.

    The so-called "headscarf reform" sparked demonstrations in many places in the country, which is officially secular.

    The amendment was later overturned by the constitutional court.

    The AK party, which came to power in 2002 and won a sweeping re-election with 47 percent of the vote last year, has been denying charges of violating the secular constitution.