On Tuesday Bozdağ said the government had plans to abolish military courts and make the General Staff report directly to the Ministry of Defense, in televised remarks as he was commenting on last week's developments regarding this year's Supreme Military Council (YAŞ), which indicated for the first time that civilian authorities were in charge of military appointments. The chief of General Staff and four of his force commanders resigned two weeks ago on Friday in protest of the arrests of dozens of military officers, including generals and admirals, as suspects in ongoing coup trials.
Bozdağ said changes to the hierarchical status of the military will be discussed in detail during parliamentary discussions concerning a planned new constitution. He also said the mere existence of the military judiciary was highly problematic. “If there is a single state, then there is a single judiciary. You can't have a dual system. The singularity of the judiciary also indicates the singularity of the state.” He said the distinction between the military and civilian judiciary was undemocratic.
Retired chief prosecutor Reşat Petek said Turkey's failure to ensure the unity of the judiciary as a single mechanism was a problem for democracy. “In our country, there exists a structure that can't be seen in other democratic countries with the rule of law. According to internationally accepted norms and rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the distinction between military and civilian judiciary is not accepted for military officers with the exception of disciplinary courts that look into crimes that are committed when officers are performing their duties and that are related to their responsibilities in their positions. Courts that have officers as judges who have no legal background as we have in Turkey are not even considered as courts. It is usually accepted that even if an officer has a legal educational background, they can't be impartial within the command chain hierarchy, and this generally violates the right to a fair trial.”
Former prosecutor Gültekin Avcı said the military judiciary was like a knife stabbed into the heart of justice. Avcı said integrating different judicial units into one was a vital obligation for Turkey. He said not a single democratic country had an influential military judiciary like Turkey. “Western countries don't expect to see justice from the military. The primary function of the military is not giving justice, but ensuring security. It is obvious that no military approach prioritizes democracy. The military judiciary in Turkey was established as a system to offer a protective shield to military officers when they get in trouble. It is a creation of the March 12 military memorandum. The Military High Administrative Court and the Military Supreme Court of Appeals should be shut down and their duties and powers should be transferred to the Supreme Court of Appeals and the Council of State.”
Retired judge Ömür Kabal also expressed support for Bozdağ's statement, saying the abolishment of military courts would end the duality in the judiciary. “This is a step that should have been taken a long time ago. I remember my professors always saying that the dual system should be done away with even as a law student in the late '70s. This is something that absolutely has to be done.”
Retired judge Rüştü Atpulat said urgent constitutional reform was needed to make the General Staff report directly to the Ministry of Defense as in other developed countries. “It would be more in line with general principles of law to abolish the Military Court of Appeals. I wholeheartedly support the government's decisions in this regard.”
