HSK decree reassigns 4,299 judges, prosecutors

ANKARA

The Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) has issued this year's main decree concerning the judiciary, resulting in the reassignment of 4,299 judges and prosecutors across the country.

According to the decree published on the HSK's website, the positions of 4,009 judges and prosecutors in the judicial justice and 290 in the administrative judiciary have been changed.

The decree also includes the appointment of new chief prosecutors in 20 provinces, including Bolu, Sivas, Tekirdağ, Kars and Tunceli.

For the first time, chief prosecutors were appointed to the courthouses in Vakfıkebir, Germencik, Çivril, Mut, Pazarcık, Gerede and Şereflikoçhisar districts, while 45 among them have been reassigned across the country.

The decree includes 152 appointments to the position of high criminal court head. Of these, 43 were already serving as presidents of high criminal courts and were reassigned, while 109 were appointed from different judicial positions.

The HSK plans to establish and operationalize the inaugural high criminal courts in the districts of Torbalı, Anamur, Çerkezköy, Çeşme, Dörtyol, Milas, Polatlı, Birecik, Ergani and Reyhanlı. New heads have been appointed to these courts.

Additionally, 45 investigative judges and 14 public prosecutors have been appointed to the Court of Appeals, while 10 judges from the high court have been appointed to regional courts of justice and 12 to first instance courts.

The decree also addresses individual cases, including the reassignment of a judge in İzmir who was under investigation after photos surfaced of him posing with weapons in his courthouse office.

He has been appointed judge of Karşıyaka. Oktay Tabur, previously leading the Judicial Justice Commission in İzmir, had been relieved of his duties before.

Furthermore, Durdu Özer, the deputy chief public prosecutor in Ankara, who was dismissed while investigating the murder of Sinan Ateş, the former head of the ultra-nationalist group Gray Wolves, has been appointed to the capital's regional court of justice.

The murder of Ateş occurred on Dec. 30, 2022, when he was fatally shot by a gunman as he left his office in Ankara. Despite 22 suspects being in custody, including three police officers, the chief public prosecutor's office in Ankara has yet to bring the case to trial.

The Gray Wolves, officially known as the Idealist Hearths, is a far-right youth organization and political movement affiliated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).