Imprisoned UN judge has no diplomatic immunity to be released: Turkish Justice Minister

ISTANBUL

A United Nations judge currently under arrest in Turkey over alleged links to the Gülenist network does not have diplomatic immunity to bar him from his imprisonment, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said in a televised interview on Feb. 1. 

Bozdağ said the release of Aydın Sefa Akay, a U.N. Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) judge, was not possible as he did not have the immunity that the U.N. repeatedly stressed he did and said most recently on Jan. 31. 

Bozdağ stressed that Turkey would cooperate only if the international treaties that it signed were taken into consideration.  

“When you look at these articles, when you make evaluations, it is very clear that this judge does not have diplomatic immunity,” he said.    

The U.N. tribunal on Jan. 31 said that Turkey was “ordered to cease all legal proceedings against Judge Aydın Sefa Akay and to take all necessary measures to ensure his release... no later than Feb. 14.”

Bozdağ also said that from now on Turkey would only legally cooperate with countries that approached it in a positive manner and stood in solidarity with it. He vowed that Turkey would retaliate to countries that approach it negatively.