Christer Asp: EU expects gov’t to pass judicial reform legislation

Christer Asp, current EU-president Sweden's ambassador to Turkey, has called on Turkey to allow civilian prosecutors and the police to complete an investigation on the alleged plan. Asp noted: “This is entirely an internal matter for Turkey, but of course we have said that at the end of the negotiating process Turkey will have to fulfill all the norms and values of the EU. And for the EU, every member state of EU must have very clear separation between the civilian and military judiciary,” adding the in the end, it is up to Turkey to decide what this separation should look like.

He said in defining boundaries between the military judicial system and the civilian judicial system, different models can be found in the EU. He went on to say the EU is closely following developments in Turkey. “When this process is over, we will look at Turkey and compare it with models we have in the EU. Then we will say whether there should be changes or not, but at the moment we should leave it to the competent authorities here in Turkey.”

Asp emphasized that a clear separation between the military and civilian judiciary is necessary. He said it is important that elected leaders of the country decide the policies of the country. “This is a very important part of democracy. Only the democratically elected political authority can decide the political direction of a country.” 

“We do not intervene with the ongoing process in Turkey. We should leave this issue to competent authorities in Turkey. You have an ongoing process now. We should leave this to the judiciary, the police, the prosecutor. I don't think it's right to intervene in every single issue going on. We in the EU do not know, for instance, what evidence and what materials the police or the prosecutor has. It is for the police and prosecutor to evaluate whatever evidence they have in the process. At the end of the day, they will draw their conclusions from it,” Asp emphasized

Asp said having discussions about possible coups at this time in history was not completely natural. “There cannot be a question of coups d'état in a democracy. I think both the civil and military authorities have been very clear on the issue of military coups. Both camps said such a thing does not have a place in modern Turkey.” He added that he does not see a threat of another coup d'état happening in Turkey.

But could other forms of military intervention, perhaps unarmed, be possible? To this question, Asp stated: “We expect to see no military intervention in the political democratic procedure in Turkey. And all the camps concerned in the country, both the government and the military, have been giving messages in that direction and this is what we would like to hear from Turkey.”

In response to how he thinks Turkey can end the discussions on democracy, Asp simply said, “The currently ongoing process aims at exactly that.”