PUNISHING AND SILENCING THE OPPOSITION IN THE TURKISH JUDICIARY
PUNISHING AND SILENCING THE OPPOSITION IN THE TURKISH JUDICIARY THROUGH DISMISSALS, PROSECUTIONS AND ARRESTS
Author: N.N. (known to the blog-editor, kept confidential for security reasons)
Following the attempted coup of July 2016, a wave of prosecutions started as part of the overall purging mission initiated by the government seemingly as a response to the failed coup. It has quickly turned out that most of the prosecutions have nothing to do with the attempted coup but on the basis of some abstract allegations of membership, relationship or affiliation to a group (the government claims it to be a ‘terrorist’ group). The figures of dismissals, closures, seizures, prosecutions, arrests, bans etc. have greatly expanded since the early days of the failed coup and have now posed a devastating impact on both the victims and their families.
The measures taken on the judiciary is the most striking one, as it involves a large number of the judiciary including senior members of the judiciary. The dismissals and prosecutions also included two (2) members of the Constitutional Court, five (5) present and ten (10) previous members of the High Council as well as fourteen (14) election candidates to the High Council. Around 4.000 judges and prosecutors have been dismissed by the High Council without any individualised procedure and without a right of defence. Nearly 3,000 judges and prosecutors have also been subject to criminal procedure and most of them are currently under arrest. Their assets are frozen, their communication with the families drastically restricted. They receive further mistreatment especially in the form of systematic solitary confinement, exposing them to extra hardship in an effort to break their psychology and force them to sign some confession.
The extent and scope of measures imposed on the members of the judiciary and the very high numbers involved also pose another alarming development in the Turkish judiciary. The two tables below display the results of the last two elections to the Turkish Judicial Council as well as the current status and any criminal prosecution of those involved in the judicial elections. It is shocking that all of the sixteen (16) candidates from the so-called independent group as opposed to the government supported YBP group (Platform of Judicial Unity) in the October 2014 election have now been dismissed and are under arrest with conditions of solitary confinement (Table 1). It is also astonishing that eight (8) former members of the previous High Council of 2010-2014 who received the most of the votes have also been dismissed and are now under arrest with solitary confinement (Table 2).
It is further striking to note that the members who once received the support of more than % 60 of their peer from the general jurisdiction and % 70 from the administrative jurisdiction in the October 2010 election have now all been dismissed and are under arrest. It must also be underlined that the pro-government YBP received an overall number of 5500 votes on the aggregate whereas the independence candidates obtained an overall number of 5000 votes on the aggregate from the general jurisdiction in October 2014 election. The respective numbers are 700 on the aggregate for the pro-government YBP and around 670 for the independent candidates from the administrative jurisdiction. The figures clearly show that it was a knife-edge race in the last October 2014 election to the High Council and certainly an alarming concern for the government trying to keep further its grip on the judiciary.
The forged mind-set following the failed coup provided an opportunity for a comprehensive purging of all the opposition in the judiciary. The precious gift provided by the attempted coup has been unscrupulously used to cleanse the judiciary in a way that any meaningful independence of judiciary could not survive. The relentless measures taken so far will also be a threatening reminder for other members of the judiciary of the price they may well have to pay if not conforming to the expectations. It is thus extremely difficult for the Turkish judiciary to display the minimum standards of independence, impartiality and integrity, a point that must be paid very close attention by the European institutions.
OCTOBER 2014 TURKISH HIGH COUNCIL ELECTION RESULTS
AND MEMBERS’ CURRENT SITUATION
(TABLE 1)
(*YBP refers to the Pro-Government Platform of Judicial Unity)
| NAME/SURNAME | VOTES | ASSOCIATION
|
STATUS | CURRENTLY |
| FIRST INSTANCE GENERAL JURISDICTION (12183 VALID VOTES CAST) | ||||
| Metin YANDIRMAZ | 5836 | YBP* | Member & Head | On duty |
| Mehmet YILMAZ | 5758 | YBP | Member & Head | On duty |
| Mehmet DURGUN | 5695 | YBP | Member | On duty |
| Ömür TOPAÇ | 5665 | YBP | Member | On duty |
| Ramazan KAYA | 5657 | YBP | Member | On duty |
| İsa ÇELİK | 5429 | YBP | Member | On duty |
| Turgay ATEŞ | 5400 | YBP | Member | On duty |
| İlker ÇETİN | 5312 | Independent | Reserve Member | Discharged & Arrested |
| Selahattin MENTEŞ | 5302 | YBP | Reserve Member | On duty |
| Zeynep ŞAHİN | 5291 | YBP | Reserve Member | On duty |
| Orhan GÖDEL | 5202 | Independent | Reserve Member | Discharged & Arrested |
| Bilgin BAŞARAN | 5100 | YBP | Judge | On duty |
| Levent ÜNSAL | 5143 | Independent | Arrested | Discharged & Arrested |
| Yeşim SAYILDI | 5009 | Independent | Arrested | Discharged & Arrested |
| İdris BERBER | 5003 | Independent | Arrested | Discharged & Arrested |
| Yaşar AKYILDIZ | 4943 | Independent | Arrested | Discharged & Arrested |
| Ayşe Neşe GÜL | 4816 | Independent | Arrested | Discharged & Arrested |
| Mehmet KAYA | 4864 | Independent | Arrested | Discharged & Arrested |
| Teoman GÖKÇE | 4797 | Independent | Arrested | Discharged & Arrested |
| Ahmet ÇİÇEKLİ | 4499 | YBP | Prosecutor | On duty |
| Nesibe ÖZER | 4545 | Independent | Judge | Discharged & Arrested |
| Hasan ÜNAL | 4495 | Independent | Judge | Discharged & Arrested |
| FIRST INSTANCE ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDICTION (1451 VALID VOTES CAST) | ||||
| Halil KOÇ | 736 | YBP | Member & Head | On duty |
| Ahmet BERBEROĞLU | 735 | Independent | Member | Discharged & Arrested |
| Mahmut ŞEN | 713 | Independent | Member | Discharged & Arrested |
| Cafer ERGEN | 706 | YBP | Reserve Member | On duty |
| Mehmet GÖKPINAR | 695 | YBP | Reserve Member | On Duty |
| Sadettin KOCABAŞ | 692 | Independent | Judge | Discharged & Arrested |
| Hasan ODABAŞI | 673 | YBP | Judge | On Duty |
| Gönül SAYIN | 655 | YBP | Judge | On Duty |
| Ali BİLEN | 651 | Independent | Judge | Discharged & Arrested |
| Egemen DEVRİM DURMUŞ | 626 | Independent | Judge | Discharged & Arrested |
OCTOBER 2010 TURKISH HIGH COUNCIL ELECTION RESULTS
AND MEMBERS’ CURRENT SITUATION
(TABLE 2)
| NAME/SURNAME | VOTES | STATUS | CURRENTLY |
| GENERAL JURISDICTION (10055 VALID VOTES CAST) | |||
| İbrahim OKUR | 6401 | Member & Head | Discharged & Arrested |
| Teoman GÖKÇE | 6084 | Member | Discharged & Arrested |
| Nesibe ÖZER | 5842 | Member & Head | Discharged & Arrested |
| Ömer KÖROĞLU | 5833 | Member | Discharged & Arrested |
| Hüseyin SERTER | 5770 | Member | Discharged & Arrested |
| Ahmet KAYA | 5692 | Member | Discharged & Arrested |
| İsmail Aydın | 5191 | Member | On Duty |
| Harun KODALAK | 4871 | Reserve Member | On Duty |
| Celal AVAR | 4744 | Reserve Member | On Duty |
| Hayrettin TÜRE | 4570 | Reserve Member | On Duty |
| Ali ÖZTÜRK | 4542 | Reserve Member | On Duty |
| ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDICTION (1261 VALID VOTES CAST) | |||
| Ahmet BERBEROĞLU | 870 | Member | Discharged & Arrested |
| Birol ERDEM | 852 | Member | On Duty |
| Resul YILDIRIM | 821 | Member | Discharged & Arrested |
| Halil KOÇ | 652 | Reserve Member | Member & Head |
| İbrahim TOPUZ | 561 | Reserve Member | On duty |
