TURKISH JUDGES and PROSECUTORS WERE BLACKLISTED BY THE PRO-GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION –YBD- in 2014
BEFORE THE ELECTION TO THE HIGH COUNCIL OF JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS (HCJP) THE PRO-GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION (‘ASSOCIATION OF JUDICIAL UNITY’ – YBD) PREPARED A LIST OF ALL JUDGES and PROSECUTORS TO BLACKLIST THEM
On the list there are names of all Turkish judges and prosecutors and the information about whether they are opponents, or supporters, or in the middle.
Opponent: Karsit
Supporter: YBP (Means supporter of the Platform which then became an Association)
In the middle – neither supporter nor opponent: Ortada
This is 1 page of the whole list, after the failed coup attempt, all opponent prosecutors on this page (but Omer Surmeli) got dismissed and detained, most of them are in jail now.
SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON PRO-GOVERNMENT ‘ASSOCIATION OF JUDICIAL UNITY’ (YBP, THEN YBD)
Previously it was called ‘The Platform of Judicial Unity’ (YBP – Yargida Birlik Platformu). It was established by the government within the judiciary to promote government affiliated candidates for the high judicial council election membership.
https://www.ybd.org.tr/en/
10 members of the High Judicial Council out of 22 are selected by first instance judges and prosecutors. The election was held 12 October 2014. For the government, it was crucial that like-minded people were elected as board member because if it can control the Council it can control the whole judiciary.
The government’s main strategies during the election period were: divide judges and prosecutors by politics, create its own list, demonize part of the judiciary, use all state resources for promoting own candidates, spread false accusations about dissident candidates, use carrot and stick policy, put judicial bureaucracy behind the campaign, win at least 12 seat in total, control Judicial Council, control the whole judiciary.
For achieving this aim, the government created this platform. The government tried to promote his own candidates for the Council membership through these Platform’s activities. Head of judicial commissions, Chief Public Prosecutors, Vice undersecretary of High Judicial Council arranged meetings, invited judges and prosecutors, putting pressure on them, judicial bureaucracy provided venue, transportation and catering for meetings. The government used all its power to persuade judges and prosecutors to vote for them. Intimidation, promising high positions, pay rise, accusing other professional organizations (like YARSAV) as being collaborators of “parallel state” -a term coined by the executive-, demonizing all opponents as “parallel structure”, (Now Gulenists) disseminating black propaganda against all possible candidates… were amongst the tools which were used by them. All state institutions and pro-government media were behind this Platform.
YARSAV refused to be with the government because this is against the very idea of independence of judiciary and supremacy of law and separation of powers.
After the Platform did its job at election and helped the government to have the majority in the supreme judicial council, founders of the government affiliated platform decided to become an association.
