Turkey has placed dozens of military judges and lawyers under charges of involvement with a 2016 alleged coup attempt. Details
here. Excerpt:
The names of over 30 military judges and prosecutors in the Turkish military accused of having links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization were released to the media on Monday.
The charges were listed in an indictment from Ankara Chief Prosecutor's Office about FETO networks in Turkey’s military courts.
Monday’s indictment is based on a document of “martial rule directives” purportedly released by plotters during the 15 July, 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
According to this document, the 33 legal figures were to be appointed at "martial rule courts" equipped with special powers, if the coup had been successful.
The indictment also claims the accused entered the military justice system between 2009 and 2014 but there was a "strong suspicion" about their exam results.
The Gulenist members in the army tried to overthrow elected government and once more they failed. Turkey has been living in extraordinary times since the 15 July 2016 military coup attempt. The developments frequently makes headlines in international media. It was generally known that Gulenist movement had worked their way up the ranks of almost all state institutions and secured the key decision making posts.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the judiciary was the most infiltrated. The secular army was the most trusted of the state institutions However many of its innocent and secular officers were imprisoned and consequently removed from duty through manipulated criminal proceedings.
A new power struggle had broken out between the government and the Gulenists when the government moved to shut down private courses where they collected students to university test exams. During that struggle we experienced a judicial coup attempt through series of coordinated corruption investigations and arrests by public prosecutors who were believed to be members of the movement. The better of two evils happened and the coup attempt failed.
An extraordinary state of emergency has been in place since 20 July 2016. There has been intensive enactment of rules and amendments on a number of laws in a very wide spectrum. Some of them clearly go beyond the scope of the state of emergency. The Constitutional Court surprised all of us in declaring that it lacked jurisdiction to scrutinize government decrees made under the auspices of the state of emergency.
Under the state of emergency the state is moving swiftly to clear the state institutions. Tens of thousands of public officers have been sacked from service. Thousands of movement members have been imprisoned under temporary arrest orders most of which are believed to be through rule of thumb assessments. Military courts were abolished. Some military judges were able to find a way to work as civilian judges, others remain in the military as legal advisers, the rest were retired.
Almost 40% of the judges and public prosecutors have been sacked from the judiciary as they were identified as members of the movement or being linked to it. The vacuum is being filled with the quick appointment and deployment of young, inexperienced and ill-trained judges. The courts and the judges already on duty are continuously reorganized and rotated. However these depressing developments created enormous anxiety among the remaining members of the judiciary and have caused additional delays in both civil and criminal proceedings. The quality of trials and judgements are plummeting.
The main opposition party CHP’s Justice March has been welcomed by the general public reflecting the ever burgeoning civil society effort to improve justice in the country.
Despite these extraordinary times our contry, we the civilian attorneys including retired JAG officers remain tall and straight, and committed to providng uncompromised quailty legal services at the highest ethical standards.
Dr.Yasin ASLAN
Colonel (Ret)
Judge Advocate TUR Army
[Posted at Col. Aslan's request.]