According to the decree, the majority of administrators and members of the council were unseated and appointed to other posts. Two deputy presidents of the council remaining from the term of the council's former President Keramettin Kurt, who was replaced by Haluk İnce three months ago, were among those replaced. While one of them, Mustafa Okudan, was appointed to a membership post of the ATK's Fifth Specialized Board, the other was appointed to membership of the ATK's Sixth Specialized Board.
One of the major appointments was to a psychiatric post on the Sixth Specialized Board, which is in charge of sexual abuse cases. Professor Osman Abalı from the department of child psychiatry at İstanbul University's medical faculty was appointed to the board, which came under fire when it prepared a report that allowed former Vakit columnist Hüseyin Üzmez, arrested in the spring of 2008 on charges of repeated sexual abuse of a minor, to be released from jail last year pending trial. The report indicated that the “physical and mental health” of B.Ç., the minor involved, was stable. The ATK was severely criticized then for lacking a child psychiatrist, and psychiatrist Ayten Erdoğan was appointed to the post in December 2008. However, Erdoğan resigned from her post in April, shortly before the council was due to issue a new medical report regarding the physical and mental condition of B.Ç. Abalı was the doctor who re-examined B.Ç. in June 2009 and at an ATK meeting stated that the minor was both physically and mentally affected by the repeated sexual abuse. Üzmez was re-arrested on July 14 based on this report and sent to prison.
Another major appointment was that of Associate Professor Mustaf Erelel from the department of chest diseases at İstanbul University's Cerrahpaşa faculty of medicine to the ATK's Third Specialized Board. Members of the board in question, some of whom are still on duty, previously prepared a report that allowed İbrahim Şahin -- the former head of the National Police Department's Special Operations Unit and a suspected member of the Ergenekon gang, a shadowy network accused of planning to overthrow the government -- to avoid a prison sentence for his role in the Susurluk affair, in which a car accident revealed links between underground gangs and Turkey's security forces. The report, prepared in 2000, claimed that Şahin had lost his memory after a traffic accident unrelated to Susurluk in 2000. When it issued its report on Şahin, the Third Specialized Board said he was suffering from “permanent damage” to his brain and ears in addition to a number of psychological problems as a result of his car accident in 2000.
The presidency announced last week that the DDK would review the council's activities and proceedings from the years 2007, 2008 and 2009. The statement explained that the president ordered an inspection following recent claims of careless work as well as other allegations directed at the ATK.
