ISTANBUL: Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan’s authorities is searching for methods to curb the affect of Turkey’s Constitutional Court docket, prompted by its rulings to free a jailed opposition parliamentarian, in line with a senior official and two legislators within the governing alliance.
Turkey’s highest court docket dominated in October that Can Atalay‘s ongoing imprisonment violated his proper to carry workplace after he was elected to parliament from his jail cell in Might’s basic election.
Atalay was sentenced in 2022 to 18-years in jail for making an attempt to overthrow Erdogan’s authorities by organising nationwide protests in 2013. The 46-year-old lawyer denies the costs.
He appealed to the Constitutional Court docket utilizing an “particular person utility” – a mechanism created by a 2010 constitutional modification that permits residents to petition the highest court docket straight over rights points.
The Constitutional Court docket’s ruling to free him triggered a judicial disaster on Nov. 8 when Turkey’s prime appeals tribunal – the Court docket of Cassation – stated it could not recognise the choice and filed a felony grievance in opposition to the judges who made it.
The appeals tribunal accused the Constitutional Court docket of overstepping its jurisdiction by performing as a ‘super-appeal physique’.
Mehmet Ucum, Erdogan’s chief adviser and deputy chair of the presidential Authorized Insurance policies Council, in November defended the Court docket of Cassation’s transfer on social media platform X and slammed the Constitutional Court docket for making “unconstitutional selections”.
In keeping with the senior authorities official and two legislators from the ruling occasion, Erdogan and his allies are uneasy concerning the affect wielded by the court docket, notably by means of its widespread use of “particular person purposes”.
Erdogan’s workplace and justice ministry didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The senior Turkish official, who like the opposite two sources requested anonymity to talk freely, stated that the court docket has established “a singular sphere of energy” by means of these rulings.
The court docket has processed greater than 500,000 particular person purposes alleging violation of elementary rights by authorities since September 2012 and delivered a ruling in additional than 484,000 of the instances, official information exhibits.
In November, Erdogan stated that he would play the “referee” within the judicial disaster and that laws might be used to resolve the standoff between the Constitutional Court docket and the appeals Court docket of Cassation.
“It isn’t tough to make authorized preparations concerning particular person purposes,” he stated, with out giving additional particulars.
The federal government is contemplating choices, the senior official stated: these embody establishing a “Turkish Human Rights Court docket” that will take care of particular person purposes individually.
The Constitutional Court docket and the system for particular person purposes will stay in some kind, stated the official. “However rules are crucial,” the particular person added.
The Constitutional Court docket and the Court docket of Cassation declined to remark for this story.
One of many two AK Occasion MPs, who requested anonymity, stated that the Constitutional Court docket ought to have a clearly outlined jurisdiction so as to not overlap with the Court docket of Cassation and exceed its jurisdiction.
Inter-court standoff
Atalay’s attorneys anticipated him to be launched after the Constitutional Court docket dominated for a second time in December that he needs to be freed, they instructed Reuters. However on Dec. 27 an Istanbul penal court docket refused for a second time to free him and once more transferred the case to the Court docket of Cassation, claiming {that a} reassessment by the appeals court docket was necessary.
In January, Turkey’s parliament – dominated by Erdogan’s supporters – stripped Atalay of his parliamentary standing. Atalay, who stays in jail, declined to remark.
The European Fee, in its annual report on Turkey’s stalled EU membership bid, in November criticized “critical backsliding” on democratic requirements, human rights and judicial independence. It criticised a scarcity of transparency and meritocracy within the appointment of judges and prosecutors.
Erdogan’s authorities, which has restacked the judiciary following a failed 2016 coup, says the system complies with worldwide requirements.
Bertil Oder, a professor of constitutional regulation at Koc College in Istanbul, stated the Constitutional Court docket’s reputation with the general public has elevated because it began ruling on particular person purposes.
“The extra it interprets rights, the stronger its bond with residents turns into,” he stated.
Whereas Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court docket obtained almost 5,000 purposes in 2022, Turkey’s Constitutional Court docket had almost 110,000 that 12 months, official information on their web sites present.
A number of of its rulings have drawn Ankara’s ire.
In January of 2018, the Constitutional Court docket ordered the discharge of jailed journalist Sahin Alpay, accused of trying to overthrow the federal government within the 2016 failed coup. He denied the accusations.
Bekir Bozdag, then deputy prime minister, stated on the time the ruling overstepped the bounds set out within the structure for reviewing particular person purposes.
A Turkish felony court docket refused to launch Alpay till March 2018 – after the Constitutional Court docket dominated for a second time that his rights had been violated.
Professional-government rulings
Nevertheless, the court docket has dominated in favor of the federal government on a number of main points. In 2016, it rejected an attraction by the primary opposition Republican Folks’s Occasion (CHP) for annulment of emergency legal guidelines enacted after the tried coup.
The transfer entrenched Erdogan’s sweeping powers, says Kerem Altiparmak, a distinguished Turkish human rights lawyer on the Ankara Bar Affiliation.
“The court docket’s significance lies in projecting the picture to the worldwide neighborhood that there’s a functioning judiciary in Turkey,” he stated. “It doesn’t resolve any of the essential instances; fairly, it’s on the centre of the issue.”
The court docket unanimously dismissed in 2017 a request to cancel Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code, which regulates the offence of “insulting the president”.
And final 12 months, it rejected a case to annul the federal government’s 2022 media regulation that allowed for jailing journalists and social media customers for as much as three years for spreading “disinformation”. The detailed ruling just isn’t but shared on the court docket’s web site.
Bid to shut occasion
In 2021, Bekir Sahin, a prosecutor on the Court docket of Cassation, filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court docket for the closure of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Occasion (HDP). He accused it of hyperlinks to the Kurdistan Staff’ Occasion (PKK), which is assessed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and EUThe HDP denies any ties.
Turkey has banned a number of political events, together with pro-Kurdish ones.
Devlet Bahceli, chief of the Erdogan-allied Nationalist Motion Occasion (MHP), the fourth-biggest occasion in parliament, accused the court docket of bias after it rejected in March 2023 the Court docket of Cassation’s request to dam Treasury help paid to the HDP. The Constitutional Court docket dominated that the required situations to impose a block on financing had not been met.
Ayca Akpek Senay, a lawyer and deputy chair of the CHP’s disciplinary board, which has the facility to ban members from the occasion, says the MHP is utilizing the case to justify Bahceli’s requires shutting down the court docket.
“Regardless of its shortcomings, the court docket supplies a unique perspective,” stated Senay. “Erdogan’s authorities is unable to govern it to their benefit and that is unsettling for them.”
Bahceli and the MHP didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Turkey’s highest court docket dominated in October that Can Atalay‘s ongoing imprisonment violated his proper to carry workplace after he was elected to parliament from his jail cell in Might’s basic election.
Atalay was sentenced in 2022 to 18-years in jail for making an attempt to overthrow Erdogan’s authorities by organising nationwide protests in 2013. The 46-year-old lawyer denies the costs.
He appealed to the Constitutional Court docket utilizing an “particular person utility” – a mechanism created by a 2010 constitutional modification that permits residents to petition the highest court docket straight over rights points.
The Constitutional Court docket’s ruling to free him triggered a judicial disaster on Nov. 8 when Turkey’s prime appeals tribunal – the Court docket of Cassation – stated it could not recognise the choice and filed a felony grievance in opposition to the judges who made it.
The appeals tribunal accused the Constitutional Court docket of overstepping its jurisdiction by performing as a ‘super-appeal physique’.
Mehmet Ucum, Erdogan’s chief adviser and deputy chair of the presidential Authorized Insurance policies Council, in November defended the Court docket of Cassation’s transfer on social media platform X and slammed the Constitutional Court docket for making “unconstitutional selections”.
In keeping with the senior authorities official and two legislators from the ruling occasion, Erdogan and his allies are uneasy concerning the affect wielded by the court docket, notably by means of its widespread use of “particular person purposes”.
Erdogan’s workplace and justice ministry didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The senior Turkish official, who like the opposite two sources requested anonymity to talk freely, stated that the court docket has established “a singular sphere of energy” by means of these rulings.
The court docket has processed greater than 500,000 particular person purposes alleging violation of elementary rights by authorities since September 2012 and delivered a ruling in additional than 484,000 of the instances, official information exhibits.
In November, Erdogan stated that he would play the “referee” within the judicial disaster and that laws might be used to resolve the standoff between the Constitutional Court docket and the appeals Court docket of Cassation.
“It isn’t tough to make authorized preparations concerning particular person purposes,” he stated, with out giving additional particulars.
The federal government is contemplating choices, the senior official stated: these embody establishing a “Turkish Human Rights Court docket” that will take care of particular person purposes individually.
The Constitutional Court docket and the system for particular person purposes will stay in some kind, stated the official. “However rules are crucial,” the particular person added.
The Constitutional Court docket and the Court docket of Cassation declined to remark for this story.
One of many two AK Occasion MPs, who requested anonymity, stated that the Constitutional Court docket ought to have a clearly outlined jurisdiction so as to not overlap with the Court docket of Cassation and exceed its jurisdiction.
Inter-court standoff
Atalay’s attorneys anticipated him to be launched after the Constitutional Court docket dominated for a second time in December that he needs to be freed, they instructed Reuters. However on Dec. 27 an Istanbul penal court docket refused for a second time to free him and once more transferred the case to the Court docket of Cassation, claiming {that a} reassessment by the appeals court docket was necessary.
In January, Turkey’s parliament – dominated by Erdogan’s supporters – stripped Atalay of his parliamentary standing. Atalay, who stays in jail, declined to remark.
The European Fee, in its annual report on Turkey’s stalled EU membership bid, in November criticized “critical backsliding” on democratic requirements, human rights and judicial independence. It criticised a scarcity of transparency and meritocracy within the appointment of judges and prosecutors.
Erdogan’s authorities, which has restacked the judiciary following a failed 2016 coup, says the system complies with worldwide requirements.
Bertil Oder, a professor of constitutional regulation at Koc College in Istanbul, stated the Constitutional Court docket’s reputation with the general public has elevated because it began ruling on particular person purposes.
“The extra it interprets rights, the stronger its bond with residents turns into,” he stated.
Whereas Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court docket obtained almost 5,000 purposes in 2022, Turkey’s Constitutional Court docket had almost 110,000 that 12 months, official information on their web sites present.
A number of of its rulings have drawn Ankara’s ire.
In January of 2018, the Constitutional Court docket ordered the discharge of jailed journalist Sahin Alpay, accused of trying to overthrow the federal government within the 2016 failed coup. He denied the accusations.
Bekir Bozdag, then deputy prime minister, stated on the time the ruling overstepped the bounds set out within the structure for reviewing particular person purposes.
A Turkish felony court docket refused to launch Alpay till March 2018 – after the Constitutional Court docket dominated for a second time that his rights had been violated.
Professional-government rulings
Nevertheless, the court docket has dominated in favor of the federal government on a number of main points. In 2016, it rejected an attraction by the primary opposition Republican Folks’s Occasion (CHP) for annulment of emergency legal guidelines enacted after the tried coup.
The transfer entrenched Erdogan’s sweeping powers, says Kerem Altiparmak, a distinguished Turkish human rights lawyer on the Ankara Bar Affiliation.
“The court docket’s significance lies in projecting the picture to the worldwide neighborhood that there’s a functioning judiciary in Turkey,” he stated. “It doesn’t resolve any of the essential instances; fairly, it’s on the centre of the issue.”
The court docket unanimously dismissed in 2017 a request to cancel Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code, which regulates the offence of “insulting the president”.
And final 12 months, it rejected a case to annul the federal government’s 2022 media regulation that allowed for jailing journalists and social media customers for as much as three years for spreading “disinformation”. The detailed ruling just isn’t but shared on the court docket’s web site.
Bid to shut occasion
In 2021, Bekir Sahin, a prosecutor on the Court docket of Cassation, filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court docket for the closure of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Occasion (HDP). He accused it of hyperlinks to the Kurdistan Staff’ Occasion (PKK), which is assessed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and EUThe HDP denies any ties.
Turkey has banned a number of political events, together with pro-Kurdish ones.
Devlet Bahceli, chief of the Erdogan-allied Nationalist Motion Occasion (MHP), the fourth-biggest occasion in parliament, accused the court docket of bias after it rejected in March 2023 the Court docket of Cassation’s request to dam Treasury help paid to the HDP. The Constitutional Court docket dominated that the required situations to impose a block on financing had not been met.
Ayca Akpek Senay, a lawyer and deputy chair of the CHP’s disciplinary board, which has the facility to ban members from the occasion, says the MHP is utilizing the case to justify Bahceli’s requires shutting down the court docket.
“Regardless of its shortcomings, the court docket supplies a unique perspective,” stated Senay. “Erdogan’s authorities is unable to govern it to their benefit and that is unsettling for them.”
Bahceli and the MHP didn’t reply to requests for remark.
