Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Turkish Constitutional Court pushes back

The Turkish Constitutional Court has invalidated a measure that would give the president control over cases involving senior military officers, according to this report.
The annulment -- published in the Official Gazette -- means that high-ranking personnel who have been charged with negligence of duty and dismissed can appeal their cases to the Constitutional Court without fear of intervention from the Presidency. 
The Constitutional Court looked into the issue of the Presidency's power to rule over appeal cases when the Republican People's Party (CHP) took the proposed legal amendments to the top court, requesting the annulment of some of the amendments. The bill was part of an omnibus package aimed to give the Presidency further powers such as overseeing potential appeals by high-ranking military officers. 
According to the bill, which was named “Law changing various articles of the Military Law, other laws and statutory decrees,” the chief of General Staff and the heads of the various branches of the armed forces be only be investigated or tried with the permission of the prime minister, while the head of the Gendarmerie General Command (JGK) can be only be investigated or tried with the permission of the interior minister.

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