Two courts in catfight in Turkey over lawmaker's guilt
Two courts in catfight in Turkey over lawmaker's guilt
prativad 
Concerns regarding the rule of law in Turkey were raised on Thursday by a disagreement between two high courts regarding the case of imprisoned parliamentary deputy Can Atalay. The MP’s attorney labeled an appeals court decision as a “judicial coup attempt”.
In an unprecedented move, the top appeals court, or Yargitay, filed a criminal complaint against judges of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, claiming that their decision to release Atalay last month was unconstitutional.
The dispute arose concurrently with the publication of the European Commission’s annual report, which criticized Turkey for its “serious backsliding” on democratic standards, the rule of law, human rights, and judicial independence. Turkey’s EU membership bid has been on hold for a long time.
Atalay, 47, was sentenced to 18 years in prison last year after being convicted of trying to overthrow the government by organising nationwide protests in 2013, along with Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala and six others.
All defendants denied the charges regarding the protests, which they said developed spontaneously in what was the biggest popular challenge to President Tayyip Erdogan in his two decades in power.
“The Court of Cassation has committed a crime by not recognising the Constitutional Court decision. This is a judicial coup attempt,” said Atalay’s lawyer Ozgur Urfa.
He called for compliance with the Constitutional Court ruling and said the Yargitay appeals court judges should be put under investigation.
However, Erdogan chief adviser Mehmet Ucum defended the Yargitay move.
“The Constitutional Court continues to make unconstitutional decisions,” he said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, arguing that its decisions regarding the parliamentary immunity of convicted MPs were unconstitutional.
Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, voiced unease about the dispute.
“It opens an unprecedented institutional crisis and confirms all concerns about Turkish judiciary expressed for years by the Council of Europe and the European Union,” Amor said on X.
The judicial clash comes at a time when the country is seeking to woo foreign investors after a U-turn in economic policy towards greater orthodoxy since May elections.
Turkey’s economy czar Mehmet Simsek and Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan have been holding investor meetings in both Western capitals and the Middle East.
(With inputs from agencies)
