President Erdoğan urges judges, prosecutors to maintain justice

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on May 20 urged the prosecutors and judges of the country to maintain justice so that security and peace can be preserved.

“If people don’t trust justice, neither peace nor security can be preserved in society,” he told a ceremony of a selection of judges and prosecutors.

Turkey had faced such difficulties in the past, he said, referring to the FETÖ group and Turkey’s former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes who was executed following a coup in 1960.

“Our justice system, which is sometimes under the influence of terrorist organizations such as FETÖ, has deteriorated in the eyes of our nation. FETÖ’s plots also left bitter marks,” he said.

“Your duty is to preserve the tower of justice silently, even if it means it will be at the cost of your life,” Erdoğan said.

“We will be with you in every decision you make with justice and every step you take,” Erdoğan noted.

The judges and prosecutor perform their duty according to the constitution laws and legislation, but their main auditors are their own conscience, the president said.

“I want you to never surrender your conscience and signature to any power,” he stated.

Erdoğan recalled that the government initiated judicial reforms in Turkey and legislated two of them among the reform package.

The Turkish Parliament on Oct. 17, 2019 adopted a bill of 39 articles - the first reform package. The bill oversaw amendments in 15 pieces of legislation.

While the first judicial reform package mainly focused on freedom of expression, the second package was dominated with amendments on criminal procedures.