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Sezgin Tanrıkulu: Turkish Judiciary Faces One of Its Deepest Crises of Confidence
🇹🇷 Turkey /Elections & Politics

Sezgin Tanrıkulu: Turkish Judiciary Faces One of Its Deepest Crises of Confidence

From Cumhuriyet · () Turkish

Translated from Turkish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

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  • Yeni Party lawmaker Sezgin Tanrıkulu said Turkey’s judiciary is experiencing one of the deepest crises of confidence in the republic’s history.
  • He accused the judiciary of failing to uphold constitutional and European Court of Human Rights rulings and said lawyers and judicial workers face heavy pressure.
  • Tanrıkulu said he would pursue accountability through legal, fair and democratic means.

Sezgin Tanrıkulu used the opening of Turkey’s new judicial year to deliver a stark warning about the state of the country’s courts, saying the judiciary faces one of the deepest crises of confidence in the republic’s history.

The Yeni Party lawmaker said that, despite the judicial recess between July 20 and Sept. 1, Turkey had witnessed almost daily instances of what he called lawlessness and injustice. He said public trust in the judiciary was extremely low and argued that the institution was neither independent nor impartial.

The judiciary is experiencing one of the most severe crises of confidence in the history of the Republic.

— Sezgin TanrıkuluDescribing the state of Turkey’s courts ahead of the new judicial year.

Tanrıkulu also said bar associations faced intense pressure, lawyers were in prison and legal professionals were being exploited and impoverished. He criticized the failure to implement Constitutional Court decisions and said European Court of Human Rights rulings were not being recognized.

However, in Turkey, between July 20 and September 1, we witnessed almost every day an act of lawlessness or injustice carried out by the judiciary.

— Sezgin TanrıkuluDiscussing the period of the judicial recess.

He warned that political parties, politicians and citizens were gradually losing legal safeguards. In his view, the environment was eroding the protection needed to engage in politics and exercise democratic rights. He said the judicial year would nevertheless open on Sept. 1 with grand speeches, despite what he described as deepening injustice and widespread violations of law.

Tanrıkulu pledged to fight those violations and said those responsible would be held accountable through legal, fair and democratic means. He also congratulated lawyers, judges, prosecutors and other judicial workers who continued to perform their duties according to law and conscience, and expressed hope for a Turkey governed by justice, the rule of law and an independent judiciary.

We will hold those responsible to account, not as they did, but within the rules of law, fairly and democratically.

— Sezgin TanrıkuluPledging to respond to alleged violations of law.
About this summary

Originally published by Cumhuriyet in Turkish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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