Judiciary needed ‘to limit abuse of power’: Constitutional Court head

STRASBOURG

Constitutional courts should help build an atmosphere of “love and tolerance” against the culture of hate, Kılıç said at the ECHR July 7.

An independent judicial power is needed to control those use public opportunities as a “tool of hatred,” Turkish Constitutional Court head Haşim Kılıç said, during a speech at a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) panel in Strasbourg.

 “I would like to express my belief in the need for an objective and independent judicial power to limit those who use public power and opportunities as a tool of spite and hatred,” Kılıç said at the conference, which had a special emphasis on Turkey’s Constitutional Court and provided a forum for an exchange of best practices of individual petition systems across Europe.

Constitutional courts should help build an atmosphere of “love and tolerance” against the culture of hate with their decisions and messages, he also said, adding that religious, linguistic and racial differences, as well as unjust income distribution, lay behind the culture of hate.

Kılıç and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are currently at odds, especially following a speech delivered by Kılıç on April 25, in which he slammed the government over its alleged judicial interventions, with Erdoğan himself in the audience.

Erdoğan later accused the top judge of being part of what he calls “the parallel structure,” or of protecting it for his future personal ambitions. Erdoğan uses the phrase for the Gülen movement, which he alleges is behind the large graft operation targeting his government on Dec. 17.

However, Kılıç stressed that his Court uses “universal values” while implementing its duties.

“[The Court made] decisions that ease social tensions, and solutions to the problems that derive from political polarization, adding to the culture of love and peace,” he said.

In September 2013, Turkish citizens received the right to personally apply to the Constitutional Court for alleged violations of fundamental rights and freedoms arising from the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.