Tension between top court, gov’t likely to escalate: Turkish main opposition

ANKARA

This file photo taken on May 10, 2012, shows the head of the Turkish Constitutional Court, Haşim Kılıç (L), shaking hands with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. DAILY NEWS Photo

The Constitutional Court’s ruling to partly overturn a controversial judicial bill on April 11, while demanding a redefinition of the justice minister’s increased competences, is likely to intensify the tension between the top court and the government, a senior executive of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has said.

CHP Deputy Chair Faik Öztrak, speaking at a press conference hours after the ruling, stressed that the Constitutional Court had noted that the bill on the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) violated the Constitution, as the CHP had argued in its related appeal filed to the court on March 2.

“When you look at the stance, attitude, policies and politics that the government has assumed so far, this tension will increase,” Öztrak said, after being asked whether the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) might attempt to restructure the Constitutional Court.

He particularly recalled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s harsh reaction against the Constitutional Court’s recent ruling to lift a ban on Twitter.

“The government and the head of the government have gone shooting their mouths off against the Constitutional Court with regard to the Twitter ruling. I suppose they will continue doing so from now on too. Maybe, after a certain point, they will attempt to make some arrangement with regard to the authorities of the Constitutional Court,” Öztrak said.

The CHP deputy, a former chief of the Undersecretariat of Treasury, had warned that such moves by the government, relying purely on its parliamentary majority, would eventually negatively impact Turkey’s global image.

“Eventually, your note will begin to fall. When we say this they get angry, but this is the rule of the game. Either you will be a state governed by the rule of law and capital will come with confidence, or you will completely ignore the rule of law and you will have to find capital from abroad with very high interest rates. All this has a cost,” Öztrak added in a reference to the international credit ratings agency Moody’s recent move to change the Turkey’s investment outlook from stable to negative.