Top judicial body asks for apology from CHP

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

BDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş supports Kılıçdaroğlu on his criticism of the judiciary. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) has urged main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to apologize over his remarks that a large part of the judiciary has become a “backyard” to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

“The judiciary has never been and will never be anybody’s front yard or backyard. The allegations are unacceptable,” HSYK said in a statement yesterday. “We expect Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu to clarify his remarks and apologize as soon as possible.”

The leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) made the remarks over the weekend during a rally in İzmir at which thousands of people denounced the continued detention of eight lawmakers and a massive investigation into the city’s CHP-held municipality.

In a prompt response, Kılıçdaroğlu said he would comment on the issue Dec. 8 at a parliamentary debate on the 2012 budget. “Everybody will learn a lesson,” he said in Istanbul.

The co-chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Selahattin Demirtaş lent support to Kılıçdaroğlu’s accusations, saying that a prosecutor and a minister, whom he did not name, had met and discussed how the massive probe into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) would proceed.

Speaking at his party’s parliamentary group meeting yesterday, Demirtaş also raised alarm over a draft bill on the prevention of the financing of terrorism, charging that if passed, it would become a “very dangerous” instrument in government hands to bully opponents.

The bill, which would pave the way for the confiscation of assets without a court ruling, indicated that the government “is now turning to the economic realm after having completed the political genocide,” he said.

“The government’s bureaucrats would sit down and make decisions to freeze assets. This would be valid for all offenses outlined in the Anti-Terror Law,” Demirtaş said. He said the bill would receive “the strongest BDP opposition ever” when the draft is debated at the related parliamentary commission and in the General Assembly.

He urged the other opposition parties to also resist the bill, likening it to legislation that introduced the special-authority courts and the use of secret witnesses, which had been passed without much debate but then grew into major problems.