Main opposition CHP hits back at judiciary

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu speaks during budget talks in Parliament. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said yesterday as he slammed the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) that a prosecutor who dropped probes into three ruling party deputies had been awarded with an appointment to the Supreme Court of Appeals.
“What did you do about this prosecutor? You probably elected him to the Court of Appeals. You are the one to apologize to me and anybody who demands justice,” the head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) said during a parliamentary debate on the budget.
The three Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies that Kılıçdaroğlu accused were named by CHP sources as Nevzat Pakdil, Hüseyin Besli and Mustafa Açıkalın. However, only Pakdil remains a member of the incumbent Parliament, while the other two are no longer deputies. They were allegedly investigated for tender-rigging, but the probes were closed on grounds there was no evidence to substantiate the suspicions, the sources said.
The probes, however, could not have been dropped because Parliament members have judicial immunity and their prosecution should have been only suspended.
The CHP sources said an investigation into another former AKP deputy on suspicions of fictitious exports was dropped on grounds that it fell under the statute of limitations while he was still serving as a lawmaker.
Brushing aside the HSYK’s demand for an apology over his remarks the judiciary had become the “backyard” of the AKP, Kılıçdaroğlu leveled more accusations. “In which democratic country of the world is an inquiry opened for a lawmaker who criticizes the ruling party? Show me an example. In which country of the world is a student jailed for 19 months because of demanding free education? Show me a respectable country in which a book is banned before being printed. I’m asking the judges who demanded an apology from me,” he said.
Kılıçdaroğlu also criticized the foreign policy of the AKP government. Recalling that Turkey had a very close relationship with the Bashar al-Assad administration in Syria until few months ago, Kılıçdaroğlu asked: “Why is Turkey training armed groups on its soil for attacking another country? Which power is demanding it? Of course we demand freedom for the Syrian peoples, but we are against war. For what purpose will we declare a war? ”
Kılıçdaroğlu also slammed the government’s stance on Israel. He said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had declared Turkish warships would guard every vessel that carried aid to the Gaza Strip, but that did not happen. “You presented Gaza to Israel on a golden plate,” he said.