Tragicomedy of errors
Turkey was shocked… Doors were opened and convicted murderers of the Bahçelievler massacre were set free eleven years before they had completed their sentence, because they could benefit from the “judicial reform” legislated by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
The AKP has been adamantly rejecting claims that an undeclared amnesty is in force in the country. Indeed it is right, for the “leftists” and the “non-AKP” or Kurdish convicts or suspects there is no such amnesty. Deputies, intellectuals, professors, retired or suspended officers, former top commanders who are suspects in the AKP’s series of judicial thrillers, (the so-called Sledgehammer, Ergenekon, OdaTV or the KCK cases), there is no amnesty. Those suspects – keep in mind that they are still only suspects – cannot be given house arrest or any sort of “controlled release,” but with a court order two notorious fascist murderers can be released and the execution of their penalties can be delayed. Justice a la AKP!
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told an interview that he did not believe Büşra Erşanlı, a professor behind bars as part of the KCK case, was a terrorist. Büşra Hanım, however, has been in prison for past few months. The court has not accepted her demand – like the demands of many other suspects – to benefit from controlled release or be granted bail. However, the reform bill clearly stressed that judges would have to justify a refusal to grant bail. Under the new law, in order to refuse granting bail, judges would be required to produce concrete evidence to demonstrate a risk that the suspect would try to flee, tamper with evidence or put pressure on witnesses. However, according to the court, Erşanlı and such people with hazardous ideas were black sheep who must be kept away from the rest of the population. Justice a la AKP!
Like many other AKP-period thrillers, the KCK case has finally it made to the Silivri concentration complex as well. At the first court session of the KCK at Silivri, lawyers were shocked when it was demanded that they must wear badges showing that they were lawyers. Apparently, the lawyers of other cases at Silivri had long given up resistance and wore the badges, even though there is no such oddity in present-day law on the procedures of such trials. A lawyer declared: “Defense advocates at Silivri are all domesticated, we cannot accept such non-legal impositions.” Justice a la AKP!
[Credible foreign policy]
A military statement on the “Syria-downed” reconnaissance plane has confused minds. From the first day, Turkey’s perennially angry tall and bold prime minister and the most knowledgeable foreign minister have insisted that the jet was downed by a Syrian missile, while Damascus has claimed that it was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. The British and the Americans must have some ideas on the issue, but are so far not releasing them. Russia has said it has detailed information that it is willing to share if the Turks want, but no such request has been made. Now the Turkish military says that the “suspected Syria-downed plane” was not hit by a missile, but that it is “suspected Syria-hit”? Not hit by missile?
But did not we come to the brink of war with Syria? Did not the premier accuse all journalists doubting Turkish statements of being servants of the dictator of Syria? Is it not the duty of journalists to be curious about all probabilities?
Is there need for further comment? What a credible foreign policy!
