Party-affiliated judges

Following the coup attempt, the matter to attract most debate and over which a virtual national consensus was reached was that of making service in the state ‘merit based’. After the Gülen brotherhood had not only infiltrated all echelons of the state, but had also attempted a coup, the ruling party spoke of merit from getting up in the morning until night. And again the following day.

Opposition circles, having suffered for years from the Gulenist infiltration of the police and army, immediately reached accord with the ruling party over this. We are talking anyway about a basic principle that nobody could oppose. There was no questioning as to why merit had not been considered when making appointments, why the Gulenist infiltration had not been prevented, why the 2004 National Security Council report on the Gulenists had been swept under the carpet, who had been helped forward by not taking expulsion decisions at the Supreme Military Council and how the way had been paved for the infiltration of the military to turn into a flood through political conspiracy lawsuits with ruling party backing. In this business of the Gulenists that ended up in an attempted coup, ruling party circles that were actively and enthusiastically involved in this complex organisation’s preparatory actions, far from being prosecuted, proclaimed themselves to be the greatest enemy of ‘FETO’.

Consequently, the fight against the coup remained well stunted. Never mind being stunted, the fight targeted groups that had not the remotest connection with the Gulenists and turned into a general purge of opponents that puts 12 September to shame.

Hence, merit as one of the most important buzzwords in the aftermath of 15 July has been forgotten. Such a simple rule as giving the job to somebody who merits it and is qualified for it has not been operated.

It is known that thousands of judges and prosecutors have been expelled from the judiciary under state of emergency decrees with the force of law. Let us leave the question of whether such mass expulsions comply with the law to one side. There is a need for these judges and prosecutors to be replaced by others to prevent the judiciary from being paralysed. Everyone who has business with the courts is aware that the paralysis is serious. So, what has been done to make new appointments merit based? For judges and prosecutors to be invited to an appointment interview, they had to get at least 70 in the written exam. A state of emergency decree with the force of law was issued immediately and this threshold was dispensed with. That is, everybody was invited to an interview regardless of the mark they got in the exam and whether they had a minimum level of legal knowledge.

What has happened as a result? It is clear that the expected has happened. The day before yesterday, CHP MPBarış Yarkadaş alleged that the newly appointed judges and prosecutors were selected from AKP province and sub-province organisations and from among its candidate MPs. The allegation is that, of the 900 judges that the Ministry of Justice appointed, 800 are affiliated to the AKP. The interview permits the weeding out of somebody who got 80 in the written exam and the appointing as a judge of somebody who got, for example, 50. Should the allegation indeed be true that 800 people who are AKP MP candidates, managers or AKP municipality lawyers were appointed as judges after the threshold was done away with, this is the proclamation of total regime change.
This means that the single-party regime is turning the judiciary into a commission of the party. The independence of the judiciary was in any case virtually non-existent with the threat of expulsion hanging over their heads. In the case of the direct appointment of AKP-affiliated judges, the judiciary will become a place where people from the opposition take a breather before being thrown inside. This is nothing more than a waste of paper.

If citizens elect a mayor from another party, a curator will be appointed and the municipality assigned to the AKP. Citizens appear before a judge and the judge is affiliated to the AKP. Citizens vote ‘no’ and the voting slips are unstamped. What are citizens to do?

If there is no separation of powers and judges are party affiliated, there is no justice. Given that justice is the foundation of the state, to what extent does there remain a state? A party state means making those outside the party stateless. Lawlessness and statelessness means an invitation to disaster in all geographical settings and especially this one.

Immediate light must be shed on Yarkadaş’s allegations.