Kılıç’s lawyer, Ali Özkaya, submitted the case against Kanadoğlu, based on Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), to the Van Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office soon after Kanadoğlu called Kılıç a “goat” during a speech he made at a conference titled “Today and Tomorrow of the State of Law in Turkey,” which was organized by the Atatürkist Thought Association (ADD) in Van on March 29. Article 125 stipulates that those who insult civil servants because of their duties shall be punished with a prison term of one to three years or with a judicial fine.
In reference to government-proposed changes to the Constitution, which include increasing the number of members of the Constitutional Court and boosting democratic representation there, Kanadoğlu discussed how already problematic Kılıç’s presence in the top court was and how the proposed changes would make things even harder for them. “There is only one non-jurist member in the Constitutional Court, and it is its president. If the proposed changes are enacted, then 13 non-jurists could become members. We cannot even tackle one goat. We will face 13 non-jurist members then,” he said, speaking at the ADD-organized conference.
ADD became the focus of attention when its former chairman, retired Gen. Şener Eruygur, former commander of the gendarmerie forces, was arrested as part of the Ergenekon investigation, an alleged terrorist organization whose suspected members are accused of various offenses including plotting to overthrow the government. Kanadoğlu, however, has long been a controversial figure in the eyes of the public since he has sided with the suspects of the Ergenekon case, expressing support for them numerous times at different platforms. Kanadoğlu was also the mastermind behind the controversial 367-deputy quorum in Parliament, an effort to prevent the election of former Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül as the next president.
Turkey was trapped in a political stalemate for four months, from late April to late August 2007, because of the Constitutional Court’s quorum decision, which was seen by many as an unconstitutional and fabricated reason to prevent Gül’s presidency.
