83 apply for seven seats at Turkey’s reshaped board of judges, prosecutors

ANKARA

Some 83 people have applied to the Turkish parliament to fill seven open positions at the new Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) in line with a restructuring of the council following the approval of constitutional amendments in the April 16 referendum.

The restructured HSK will have 13 members - down from 22 at present - with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointing four members, while the parliament appointing the remaining seven. Of the two remaining, one will be the justice minister and the other will be the undersecretary of the ministry. 

The applications for the seven seats started on April 28 and ended on May 2. The parliament will send the 83 candidates’ applications to a joint commission consisting of members of a constitutional committee and a justice commission.

For those members to be selected by parliament, a qualified majority is required. If a qualified majority cannot be reached, lots will be drawn between two candidates with the most votes. Nobody will be able to become a HSK member if they are not approved by a majority at parliament. 

The new HSK will become operative 40 days after April 27, when the official results of the referendum were released.