PM vows to bring judicial reform package to Parliament

On Sunday, the prime minister responded to questions from reporters at Istanbul Atatürk Airport before leaving for an official visit to Spain. When asked whether his government envisions including changes to the current judicial system in a constitutional reform package planned to be introduced by the government, Erdoğan said: “A judicial reform is currently expected by most segments of society, including political parties and civil society institutions. We don’t want to leave these expectations unanswered. Our colleagues are working on it. They plan to bring it to Parliament after completing their review of the package.”

Erdoğan also attended a dinner in İstanbul with the AK Party’s Rize provincial branch and İstanbul provincial branch leadership on Sunday. Addressing the participants, the prime minister commented on the recent debate over a decision by the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) to strip four prosecutors of their authority last week. Erdoğan implicitly criticized the HSYK, saying some institutions damage the notion of the impartiality of the law by overstepping their authority. “They are using political discourse. If you like politics, here is the stage,” he said.

The HSYK last Wednesday stripped specially authorized Erzurum Prosecutor Osman Şanal of his authority due to his investigation of a chief public prosecutor. The board also relieved another specially authorized prosecutor in Erzurum, Tarık Gür, and public prosecutors Rasim Karakullukçu and Mehmet Yazıcı of their authority over an investigation into Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor İlhan Cihaner, currently under arrest on charges of membership in a terrorist organization and falsification of documents. The decision sparked indignation in various segments of society as it cast doubt on the impartiality and independence of the judiciary.

The prime minister also lashed out at unidentified parties who accuse the government of trying to create a “pro-government” judiciary, saying some are trying to cause conflict between state institutions by so classifying them.

Stressing the importance of democracy for Turkey, Erdoğan said Turkey has been raising the bar in democracy. “Unfortunately, those who are jealous of the level Turkey has reached in terms of democratization, economy and international relations are staging every kind of scenario. There is no way back from this process. Nobody can make this country pay a new price. Nobody has the right to take this country backwards. We have been fighting the problem of [illegal] gangs, which have spread through the country, and we have never surrendered,” Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan also touched upon the newfound solidarity between relatives of victims of unsolved murders in Turkey’s history. Recently, family members of individuals who were assassinated for political reasons have voiced their demands that the perpetrators and real masterminds behind the killings be brought to justice. Relatives of a number of victims of unsolved, suspicious murders attended the last hearing in the trial of suspects in the murder of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist fatally shot by an ultranationalist teenager outside the Agos weekly in 2007. Stating that there is a heartbreaking problem of unsolved murders in Turkey, Erdoğan noted that relatives of these victims are establishing a platform to voice their demands. “They say that they know [their relatives] will not come back, but they want the real perpetrators to be brought to justice. Turkey should immediately confront this responsibility. There are some who say, ‘Why are you dredging up the past?’ Those who are expected to exert efforts to shed light on such events are trying to block this process. I present this inconsistency for the judgment of the nation,” he added.