[Event of the week]
Dubious HSYK decision sends shockwaves across country

Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor İlhan Cihaner was arrested early Wednesday on charges of membership in a terrorist organization and falsification of documents. The prosecutor was taken into custody on Tuesday after a thorough search at his office and house as part of the ongoing probe into Ergenekon, a clandestine group nested within the state and the military. The group is accused of working to overthrow the government.

Jurists argue that the HSYK made the decision without even evaluating the Cihaner probe file. According to most jurists, the board cannot decide whether Şanal overstepped his authority without discussing the details of his probe. A prosecutor can be removed from his position or stripped of authority only after an investigation; however, no investigation was launched into the prosecutor.

The government lashed out at the HSYK decision. Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin called the HSYK move a “shame for democracy” and expressed the government’s intention to pass a comprehensive judicial reform to raise the country’s judicial standards.

On Thursday Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç directed harsh criticism at the board for its decision to strip the prosecutors of their authority. “A heavy blow was dealt to the judiciary by the HSYK. We deem it a blow against our mindset of freedom. On what authority does the board depend when interfering in the judiciary?” asked an angry Arınç.

A letter allegedly penned by a military officer who worked under retired Gen. Çetin Doğan claimed that an apparent military plot to overthrow the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government is genuine. The letter was published on Sunday by Star daily columnist Aziz Üstel. The officer did not sign the letter out of fear for his life. “I am giving you a list of incidents I witnessed between 2002 and 2003,” began the letter. The officer claimed that the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plan is genuine from beginning to end.

A number of nongovernmental organizations in Diyarbakır on Sunday protested a decision by the 8th Chamber of the Council of State to retain a university admission system that uses a lower coefficient to calculate the university admission examination scores of graduates of vocational high schools.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, the Qatari capital, to discuss the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement process and Iran’s nuclear policy in addition to issues such as Cyprus, the Middle East, Iraq, economic cooperation and the fight against terrorism.

Feb. 15 Monday

Ümit Boyner, the recently elected chairwoman of the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD), called on members of the military to stop using threatening language that may distress the people, in a clear reference to the recent “warnings” by the military chief to politicians and the media. “The parliamentary brawl, the lack of dialogue among parties, the growing polarization in society, the disturbing political polemics, the allegations of [military] interference in politics, the threats to ‘tell the public all we know’ and a settling of accounts do not befit us,” Boyner remarked on Monday during a press conference in İstanbul.

Social unrest and demonstrations broke out in predominantly Kurdish areas and parts of İstanbul and Mersin on the 11th anniversary of the capture of terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is serving a life sentence on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara. Security forces detained several dozen people in various cities, including Diyarbakır and İstanbul. Many shops in predominantly Kurdish areas remained closed.

Rivers located in the northwestern part of the country, swollen by several days of heavy rain, overflowed their banks after water levels rose dramatically. In Edirne, the Oğulpaşa River burst its banks as a result of the heavy rainfall the city has been experiencing, causing the closure of the Edirne-Kırklareli D-20 highway to traffic.

According to data released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat), unemployment in November 2009 reached 13.1 percent, up 0.1 percentage points from the figure in October. A 0.4 percentage point drop was realized from September to October, signaling that unemployment has yet to fully recover and is hovering at around 13 percent.

A senior general who was summoned by a public prosecutor late last year to testify in an investigation into an alleged plot against certain religious orders and communities in the eastern city of Erzincan was summoned to court once again. Erzurum Public Prosecutor Osman Şanal subpoenaed 3rd Army Commander Gen. Saldıray Berk to testify for the second time as part of the ongoing probe in Erzincan.

Feb. 16 Tuesday

An ongoing probe into a clandestine criminal organization known as Ergenekon, which is said to be the “investigation of the century” as it aims to eliminate the deep state in Turkey, gained momentum on Tuesday with the interrogation of two admirals. South Sea Base Commander Adm. Kadir Sağdıç and Adm. Mehmet Fatih İlhan were interrogated as part of the Ergenekon probe. Ergenekon is a terrorist organization accused of working to overthrow the AK Party government.

Police detained Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor İlhan Cihaner after a thorough search at his office and house as part of the ongoing probe into Ergenekon. The warrant for the search came from Erzurum specially authorized prosecutor Osman Şanal. The search was coordinated by Şanal along with two other prosecutors.

President Abdullah Gül instructed the State Audit Institution (DDK) to launch an extensive investigation into a helicopter accident that occurred last year and claimed the lives of six people, including Grand Unity Party (BBP) leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu.

Turkey can help world powers understand Iran, as it is familiar with Tehran’s nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, while also announcing that Iran would consider any new ideas on a proposed nuclear fuel swap with major powers.

Rahşan Ecevit, the wife of the late Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, is expected some time next week to make public the background of an alleged plot to remove her husband from office through a falsified medical report, Today’s Zaman learned.

Turkey’s consumer confidence increased by 0.45 points in January compared to December 2009, data revealed. TurkStat released its monthly consumer behavior report for January.

The original version of an alleged military plot against the ruling AK Party and the highly respected Gülen movement was sent to the General Staff by civilian prosecutors. Officers from the General Staff came to the Beşiktaş Courthouse in İstanbul on Tuesday to accept the document as well as a copy of a Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) report confirming that the signature found on the document belongs to Col. Dursun Çiçek.

Feb. 17 Wednesday

The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) decided to strip specially authorized Erzurum prosecutor Şanal of his special authority due to his probe into Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor Cihaner, a now-jailed prosecutor.

A group of Socialist Democracy Party (SDP) members occupied the Cervantes Institute, a Spanish cultural center located in İstanbul’s Tarlabaşı district, to support workers dismissed from Tekel factories after the privatization of the state-owned alcohol and tobacco monopoly.

 A court in Erzurum rejected an appeal filed by Erzincan Chief Prosecutor Cihaner’s lawyer seeking the prosecutor’s release from prison. Shortly after his client was put behind bars, lawyer Hamit Sekman appealed the arrest. The Erzurum 2nd High Criminal Court, however, rejected the appeal.

Feb. 18 Thursday

A group of lawyers from the Law and Democracy Platform, an NGO working to strengthen the rule of law while respecting democratic values, protested the HSYK decision to strip prosecutors conducting a probe into jailed Erzincan Chief Prosecutor Cihaner of their special authority. Lawyers gathered in front of the Kadıköy Courthouse in İstanbul on Thursday to speak out against the HSYK and its decision, which Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said showed the need for immediate judicial reform.

After the HSYK decided on Wednesday to remove four Erzurum prosecutors from their posts due to their investigation into Cihaner, the board on Thursday appointed prosecutors to the newly vacant posts.

Visiting Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete on Thursday praised Turkey for its efforts to voice Africa’s problems in the international arena through platforms such as the G-20 and the UN Security Council.

 “Turkey is our friend, and particularly among G-20 countries, it is Africa’s voice. We don’t have a voice among G-20 countries, as none of the countries on the Africa continent are G-20 members,” Kikwete said at a joint press conference following his talks with President Abdullah Gül at the Çankaya presidential palace.

An appeal from the Justice Ministry against the decision of the HSYK to strip the powers of prosecutors investigating a plot tied to the Ergenekon terror network was rejected by the board.

An envelope containing ammunition was found outside AK Party headquarters in Ankara early on Thursday. The envelope was left by two people who arrived at the scene by car, the license plate of which is still unknown, and fled immediately after a security guard spotted them. Noticing the envelope the pair left behind, the security guard contacted the police. An Ankara Police Department crime scene investigation team took the envelope, which was found to contain four bullets.

The Council of State rejected a petition by the Higher Education Board (YÖK) against its recent decision to retain the coefficient system for Turkey’s university admission exam, which makes it more difficult for graduates of vocational high schools to enroll in a university program of their choice

Feb. 19 Friday

Some military officers who were detained in last December as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç were on a mission assigned to them by Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, according to a voice recording that allegedly features the voice of Başbuğ himself, published on the news site habervaktim.com.

Security was tight in front of the courthouse where 61 suspects who are allegedly members of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an organization believed to be the urban arm of the PKK, appeared before judges for the first time at the Diyarbakır 6th High Criminal Court. The 61 are accused of carrying out the KCK’s operations in the province of Şırnak under the aegis of an organization called the Patriotic Democratic Youth Council (YDGM).