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Erdogan criticises top court, stoking judicial crisis in Turkey | News<\/p>\n
Main opposition party calls it president\u2019s \u2018attempt to eliminate the constitutional order\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has waded into a brewing judicial crisis, accusing the country\u2019s highest court of making mistakes and defending an unprecedented criminal investigation against its judges.<\/p>\n The comments on Friday stoked a debate over the rule of law after the appeals Court of Cassation unexpectedly challenged the authority of the Constitutional Court this week, making a criminal complaint against judges of the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n The dispute revolves around jailed lawyer Can Atalay, one of seven defendants sentenced last year to 18 years in prison as part of a trial that also saw the award-winning philanthropist <\/span>Osman Kavala jailed for life.<\/span><\/p>\n The 47-year-old Atalay was allowed to run from jail in May\u2019s general election and was elected to parliament as a member of the leftist Workers\u2019 Party of Turkey (TIP).<\/p>\n The Constitutional Court ruled last month that the jailed parliamentarian should be released \u2013 a ruling the appeals court said was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, the Constitutional Court has made many mistakes in a row at this point, which seriously saddens us,\u201d Erdogan told reporters on a flight back from Uzbekistan, according to a text published by his office on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Constitutional Court cannot and should not underestimate the step taken by the Court of Cassation on this matter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Turkey\u2019s bar association and the main opposition party have denounced the appeals court\u2019s ruling as an \u201cattempted coup\u201d, and hundreds of members demonstrated, many of them lawyers in legal robes, chanting \u201cjustice\u201d on the streets of the capital on Friday.<\/p>\n They marched more than 10km (6 miles) from the Ankara courthouse to the Ahlatlibel district, where the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation are located side by side.<\/p>\n \u201cOur citizens need to understand that this struggle is not just a struggle of lawyers, it is a struggle for the constitution,\u201d said the head of the Ankara Bar Association, Mustafa Koroglu.<\/p>\n Joining the march in front of the Constitutional Court building, the new leader of the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP), Ozgur Ozel, said the latest judicial crisis was \u201can attempt by Erdogan to overhaul the constitutional order\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president, who takes his power from the constitution, supports Court of Cassation\u2019s actions ignoring the constitution. Constitutional Court rulings are binding for everybody, according to the constitution,\u201d Ozel said, urging Erdogan to protect the constitution.<\/p>\n Erdogan told his ruling AK Party members to support the appeals court challenge, appearing to take aim at some in its ranks who had criticised the move.<\/p>\n In comments made later at a ceremony in Ankara, Erdogan said the dispute between the two top courts showed the need for a new constitution, reflecting his longstanding position that parliament should take up the matter next year.<\/p>\n The latest crisis showed that Erdogan wants \u201cmore control over what happens in Turkey, including a judicial system that does what he wants, such as prosecuting and imprisoning his critics and opponents\u201d, according to analyst Gareth Jenkins.<\/p>\n \u201cHis preference is to do things according to the constitution. That is why he has amended the current constitution in 2010 and 2017 and is now talking about a completely new one,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Legal experts said such a crisis between the country\u2019s two most prominent courts was unprecedented and underlined concerns that the judiciary has been bent to Erdogan\u2019s will.<\/p>\n It coincided with the European Commission\u2019s release of an annual report on Turkey\u2019s long-stalled European Union membership bid, in which it underlined \u201cserious backsliding\u201d on democratic standards, the rule of law and judicial independence.<\/p>\n The commission also said Turkey did not comply with the principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms in its \u201ccounterterrorism\u201d operations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631<\/a>\u2018Degradation of rule of law\u2019<\/h3>\n
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