Turkey’s top judicial body dismisses four judges from profession

ANKARA

Turkey’s top judicial body has dismissed two judges who were arrested for ordering the release of 76 suspects thought to have links to the “Fetullahist Terrorist Organization” (FETÖ), as well as two other judges who released three police officers that were detained on charges of illegal wiretapping.

The 2nd Chamber of the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) expelled the four judges on Jan. 21 after having previously suspended them.

The chamber dismissed Metin Özçelik, a judge at the Istanbul 29th Criminal Court of First Instance; Mustafa Başer, a judge at the Istanbul 32nd Criminal court of First Instance; duty judge Habil Kahraman; and judge Mustafa Gürbüz from the southeastern Anatolian province of Şanlıurfa in line with Article 69 of the Judges and Prosecutors’ Law No. 2802, which states that judges and prosecutors will be dismissed from duty if their actions damage the honor of their profession and the reputation of their public post.

Özçelik and Başer have already been imprisoned in Sincan Prison in Ankara. The two, whose trial at the Supreme Court of Appeals began on Jan. 21, were arrested for ordering the release of 76 suspects thought to have links to the so-called FETÖ and will be tried on charges of attempting to topple the government of the Republic of Turkey, membership of a terrorist organization, abuse of power and violating privacy. 

Kahraman and Gürbüz were suspended for releasing three police officers who had been detained in an operation into illegal wiretapping in Şanlıurfa.

Earlier in January, the same chamber dismissed prosecutors Zekeriya Öz, Muammer Akkaş, Celal Kara and Mehmet Yüzgeç, as well as judge Süleyman Karaçöl, who had been involved in the country’s biggest-ever corruption investigation in December 2013. They were dismissed from their profession due to their roles in the corruption investigations launched on Dec. 17 and Dec. 25, 2013, which targeted four former ministers and three of those ministers’ sons.