AGOS LAWYERS DEMAND RESIGNATION OF JUDGE YALCINKAYA
Erol ONDEROÄ~^LU – [email protected]
BIA
Nov 24 2008
Turkey
Kemal Aytac, one of the lawyers for weekly Agos, Armenian-Turkish
newspaper, demanded resignation of Hakkı Yalcınkaya, judge for
the 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance of Å~^iÅ~_li, Istanbul,
or his removal.
Kemal Aytac, one of the lawyers of weekly Agos, Armenian-Turkish
newspaper, demanded resignation of Hakkı Yalcınkaya, the judge of
the 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance of Å~^iÅ~_li, Istanbul, who
prosecuted and sentenced Hrant Dink, Arat Dink and Serkis Seropyan,
or his removal from his position by the Ministry of Interior.
It is claimed that Judge Yalcınkaya had asked Kemal Kerincsiz,
during a phone conversation, before he was arrested for the Ergenekon
investigation, if he had any orders for him.
"If it is true he should resign, otherwise the ministry should launch
an investigation" Aytac said, "It is unbelievable. He was my classmate
as well. They are humans; there can be a close relationship at some
level. However, if this allegation is true then the judge should
resign, if not, then the ministry should launch an investigation and
remove him from his post."
It is found out that the Director-General of the Criminal Matters
of the Ministry of Justice already launched an inspection regarding
Yalcınkaya’s ruling of one and a half year prison sentence in Zihni
Cakır case.
"The rulings against Agos may be subject to new discussions"
Emphasizing that the past rulings regarding Agos may be subject to
reevaluation, Aytac says, "This is a new situation. This judge has
lost his credibility in the eyes of the public. Then, his rulings in
the past cases should be reevaluated."
"The citizens who will face this judge now on will not trust his
rulings, even if they are fair. He should not stay in his post in
order to protect the credibility of the judiciary system."
"He is a kind of judge who relies more on political justifications
rather than the law."
In his ruling about the Cakır case on September 12, 2008 regarding
"the violation of the secrecy of the investigation, he had made the
following ruling:
"(…)the expression of Ergenekon which unites the Turkish world,
including Pakistan and Afghanistan, was defiled, those who fight
against terrorism were presented as criminals in the book (…)"
"It is not even possible to imagine that General Kazım Karebekir
(one of the important generals in the Turkish Independence War)
could be in such betrayal. It is clear that this is a lie produced
by those who have a problem with the Turkish Army."
Yalcınkaya was rejected; he eventually ruled for an acquittal This
court had insisted on prosecuting Hrant Dink under article 159 and
convicted him to delay-able 6 months in prison. It had also sentenced
Arat Dink and Serkis Seropyan of Agos to delay-able one year in prison
under article 301 for "denigrating Turkishness."
The court had also tried Aris Nalcı and Seropyan for "attempting to
influence the trial process" and the two journalists were acquitted
in the case where their lawyers had rejected Yalcınkaya and two
other members of the court.
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