After he left the meeting Gerçeker confirmed that the president had asked his opinion on judicial reform. Gül had earlier said everyone believes there is a need for judicial reform but that there had been disagreements between the stakeholders on the way it should be carried out. ‘‘I have said this before. This subject should be handled very carefully. There is significant work going on to this end but there are also issues where there is no consensus. Everyone believes judicial reform is a must for Turkey. We only have problems over the way it will be carried out.
We need to focus on this subject without politicizing it or leaving room for partisan polarization,” Gül said during a visit to Sinop on Sunday.
The government is determined to implement an extensive reform of the country’s judiciary, mainly in the formation of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), and particularly after the board’s recent move to revoke the authority of some prosecutors. They were conducting an investigation into Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor İlhan Cihaner, who is now jailed and accused of being a member of the alleged terrorist Ergenekon gang as well as of falsifying documents. Whereas government representatives, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and many jurists and intellectuals condemned the HSYK, stating that the board had made a political decision to protect criminals from being brought to justice, Gerçeker stood behind the controversial decision and argued that the board had acted lawfully. Asked if this recent tension between the judiciary and the government has spilled over into his meeting with Gül, Gerçeker said they only talked about the judicial reform. ‘‘No, he solely took my views over the judicial reform matter. I conveyed my suggestions over how such a reform should be. But certainly, there are disagreements between us and the Ministry of Justice,” Gerçeker said. “Time will tell if those disagreements will be resolved or not,” he added.
Gül will host the head of the Constitutional Court, Haşim Kılıç, and Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin on Wednesday over the same matter.
