Today’s Zaman , Turkey
Sept 7 2009

Will government’s judicial reform plan be successful?

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government finally
announced an action plan for a comprehensive judicial reform to raise
Turkey’s standards in compliance with EU membership criteria late last
month after three years of study and talks with various parties,
including the European Union.

According to the government plan, the most noteworthy change will be
in the composition of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors
(HSYK), which has been criticized for its controversial attempts to
replace judges and prosecutors in what many viewed as an attempt to
hamper the independence and impartiality of judges and to influence
verdicts in major cases. The number of members of the HSYK is supposed
to be increased from seven to 21, and all senior judges in the country
will be able to run for a seat in the HSYK. Justice Minister Sadullah
Ergin met with journalists over the weekend in Ä°stanbul to
share details of the judicial reform, which were met with support by
most of the participants, while raising concerns about the possible
opposition to the reform from pro-status quo circles.
Erhan BaÅ?yurt from the Bugün daily recalls recent
controversial decisions of the HSYK and the Constitutional Court and
that Turkey has been discussing the problem of the judiciary’s
politicization for a long time. Noting that all these have damaged the
credibility and respectability of the judiciary as well as opening
wounds in the public conscience, he says Turkey needs these reforms
even if the EU process were not in question. `It is crystal clear that
Turkey, which is a country that has lost cases in the European Court
of Human Rights, needs these reforms. However, Turkey’s political
conditions show that a judicial reform will not be easy for Turkey. We
will see the reactions of the opposition parties when the action plan
is presented to them. Will they totally reject it as they did recent
Kurdish and Armenian initiatives of the government?’ asks
BaÅ?yurt.

Sabah’s Emre Aköz draws attention to the government’s reform
plans regarding the structure of the HSYK. Recalling that it plans to
restructure the board in accordance with the principle of `wider
representation,’ which will allow diverse groups in the judicial
system to have a say in the board, Aköz says Ergin stated in a
meeting with journalists that two-thirds of the board members will be
judges or prosecutors as part of their plans. `I think a challenging
process will start in the judiciary. There will be heated debates in
the following days. Those who oppose the reform and those who do not
want to leave the honor of carrying out the reform to the government
will unite. So they will cause Turkey to lose time by trying to
maintain the caste system within the judiciary,’ Aköz says.

Ergun Babahan from the Star daily has a proposal for those who oppose
the judicial reform. `Follow the method of [the founder of the Turkish
Republic Mustafa Kemal] Atatürk [who referred to laws of other
countries while forming the Turkish legal system.] Tell us the best
legal system in the West, and let us take it as long as we have a
transparent judicial system, which is distanced from politics and does
not make controversial decisions,’ he said. Noting that from now on it
is not possible to block the judicial reform process, Babahan says its
opponents can just delay it. `So, come and contribute to this process,
and let Turkey have a modern judicial system,’ he added.

07 September 2009, Monday