Turkey’s top judicial body a threat to judiciary, says dismissed prosecutor

Mehmet Yüzgeç, who was dismissed along with three fellow prosecutors and one judge on May 12, said the decision against him was being used to “scare” other jurists. 

“I regretfully say that they are trying to scare jurists through the dismissal decisions taken against me. At the point where we have come, the HSYK has become a threat to the judicial independence and objectivity of prosecutors and judges,” Yüzgeç told journalists at his house, where his wife and daughter were on site. 

The second chamber of HSYK decided to dismiss prosecutors Zekeriya Öz, Muammer Akkaş, Celal Kara and Mehmet Yüzgeç, as well as judge Süleyman Karaçöl, on May 12. The five figures were dismissed due to their roles in the graft investigations launched on Dec. 17 and Dec. 25, 2013, which targeted four former ministers and three of those ministers’ sons. 

Yüzgeç stated that, as a public prosecutor, he would rather be a victim for “only using the duties and authorities given to him by the law,” than being in his job by “ignoring crimes, corruption and theft.” 
Mehmet Yılmaz, the head of the HSYK’s second chamber, had said those in the chamber who had reached the dismissal decision were all “people of law and dignity.” 

“Everyone has come to their decisions according to their own conscience. There is no question of whether anyone was affected by someone else,” Yılmaz said after the ruling.