{"id":1455,"date":"2015-05-07T07:59:52","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T07:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=1455"},"modified":"2015-05-11T08:11:57","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T08:11:57","slug":"concerns-about-judicial-independence-mount-as-prosecutors-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=1455","title":{"rendered":"Concerns about judicial independence mount as prosecutors arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"

AR\u0130F TEKDAL
\nAli Aslan K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7 contributed to this report
\nToday’s Zaman<\/em><\/p>\n

The arrest of four prosecutors and a gendarmerie commander involved in the search \u00bb\u00bb<\/strong>
\nANKARA – The arrest of four prosecutors and a gendarmerie commander involved in the search of Syria-bound trucks that were found to belong to the National Intelligence Organization (M\u0130T) in January 2014 has added to concerns about the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Former Adana Chief Public Prosecutor S\u00fcleyman Ba\u011fr\u0131yan\u0131k, former Adana Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Ahmet Karaca, Adana Prosecutors Aziz Tak\u00e7\u0131 and \u00d6zcan \u015ei\u015fman and former Adana provincial gendarmerie commander Col. \u00d6zkan \u00c7okay are facing charges of “attempting to topple or incapacitate the Turkish government through the use of force or coercion and obtaining and exposing information regarding the security and political activities of the state,” as reported by Turkish media.<\/p>\n

The prosecutors were earlier suspended from duty in a government-orchestrated move to hush up scandalous revelations that were leaked by an anonymous social media user. The orders were issued by the Tarsus 2nd High Criminal Court at the request of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) chief inspector.<\/p>\n

Mahmut Tanal, an \u0130stanbul deputy for the Republican People’s Party (CHP), talked to Today’s Zaman on Thursday to express his grief over the way that the rule of law is being eroded in Turkey, saying, \u201cThey [the government] are removing justice, the pillar of the state, for the survival of the ruling party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tanal continued: \u201cThe laws prescribing the detentions of judges and prosecutors show the need for crimes necessitating aggravated sentencing. The judges are rendering decisions on the cases that are put in front of them according to the law. The prosecutors did what needed to be done after they received the tip-off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’ve [the government] detained law enforcement personnel. They’ve detained judges, prosecutors. They’ve detained journalists, bureaucrats and scientists. They wanted to bully the public with these detainments. Even in Nazi Germany judges and prosecutors were not detained for the decision they made, but in Turkey they are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Former prosecutor Mete G\u00f6kt\u00fcrk also spoke to Today’s Zaman, criticizing the arrest of the four prosecutors linked to the investigation of the M\u0130T trucks. \u201cIt is clear that these arrests are blatant attacks on the independence of the judiciary and have not been done in the name of the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

G\u00f6kt\u00fcrk continued: \u201cThe independence of the judiciary is necessary for citizens hoping to find justice, not judges. The loss of judicial independence will erode [people’s] faith in the law. I condemn [these acts]. Everywhere in the world, people in the judiciary are watching and condemning [these acts].\u201d<\/p>\n

M\u0130T trucks understood to be transporting munitions to Syria stopped in Adana, Hatay<\/strong>
\nOn Jan. 1, 2014 a mysterious truck en route to Syria was stopped by police in the provinces of Adana and Hatay after prosecutors received an anonymous tip-off. However, the police were made to transfer the investigation to the gendarmerie because the police had stopped the truck in an area that was outside its jurisdiction. The truck was allegedly transporting arms and munitions and was being escorted by Turkish intelligence officers.<\/p>\n

According to claims, the gendarmerie discovered ammunition and weapons as well as humanitarian aid in an initial search of the truck. Hatay Governor Celalettin Lekesiz, who had reportedly been informed of the incident, instructed the gendarmerie not to search the truck. Three more Syria-bound trucks operated by M\u0130T were stopped in Ceyhan, a district of the southern province of Adana, on Jan. 19, 2014. The trucks belonging to M\u0130T were allegedly transporting arms shipments to opposition groups in Syria, including al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n

Then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan said during a television program at the time that the trucks were carrying aid to Turkmens in Syria. On the program, Erdo\u011fan appeared to be particularly angry with the prosecutor for having instructed the content of the trucks to be recorded on video and described the search of the trucks as “treason.” Syrian-Turkmen Assembly Vice Chairman Hussein al-Abdullah said in January 2014 no trucks carrying aid had arrived from Turkey.<\/p>\n

Many high-level Turkish officials, including then-President Abdullah G\u00fcl said, the cargo of the trucks was a “state secret,” which led some to speculate that the trucks were carrying arms. Turkish law prohibits arms exports to Syria.<\/p>\n

The truck that police stopped between K\u0131r\u0131khan and Reyhanl\u0131 near the Syrian border allegedly belonged to an aid organization called the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (\u0130HH), though the \u0130HH strongly rejected any link to the truck in a written statement.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Ba\u011fr\u0131yan\u0131k: whatever the decision, I’m behind the case<\/strong>
\nFormer Adana Chief Public Prosecutor S\u00fcleyman Ba\u011fr\u0131yan\u0131k, who initiated the investigation based on an anonymous tip-off before being appointed to Antalya and then suspended, was detained at his home in Antalya on Wednesday evening. As he was being detained, Ba\u011fr\u0131yan\u0131k told reporters: \u201cIf I were a terrorist and if I had really committed a crime, they would never touch me. I just did what the law told me. I am the child of a farming family. Police arrived at my door after news reports emerged [about orders to detain me]. This is shameful. I am a person who has served as a prosecutor for this country for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank god we [prosecutors] are not those people who have committed treason against their country. This scenario is even worse than that of Ye\u015fil\u00e7am [Turkish cinema] scripts that were made for commercial purposes. They [prosecutors] can ask me anything they like. I never stray from the boundaries of the law. Whatever my views were in my career will never change,\u201d he said as he was being detained.<\/p>\n

Ba\u011fr\u0131yan\u0131k also said: \u201cWhatever the decision is, whatever they do, I’m behind this case. There have been criminal complaints regarding myself. The inspectors wanted my deposition. I didn’t see the complaints published in the media, as part of the accusations [put forward in court]. God has given me one life. You can finish your life in an unrespectable way or you can finish your life in a respectable way. I [prefer to] go and serve my time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ba\u011fr\u0131yan\u0131k criticized his detainment on Wednesday evening, saying: \u201cI am comfortable today, from the very beginning. I have always implemented the law. We’re not bandits; we are not brigands. I am going to turn myself in. It’s not as if we [prosecutors] are going to run away.\u201d
\nLawyers from the Antalya Bar Association also came to Ba\u011fr\u0131yan\u0131k’s house to show their solidarity with him.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor \u015ei\u015fman: acting this way to a state prosecutor is against the law<\/strong>
\nProsecutor \u00d6zcan \u015ei\u015fman was also detained at his home in Adana by police on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters as he was taken for a medical check-up after his detention, \u015ei\u015fman said it is a crime to treat a state prosecutor in such a way.<\/p>\n

\u015ei\u015fman was referred to the Tarsus Second High Criminal Court on Thursday along with former Adana Public Prosecutor S\u00fcleyman Ba\u011fr\u0131yan\u0131k after being taken through a medical examination the night before. While in custody, \u015ei\u015fman said: \u201cThere are allegations that I have engaged in acts of espionage. For years I conducted investigations into terror and espionage. I don’t know what I’m being charged with. To act in this way towards a public prosecutor is against the law. Those who did this will bear the penalty of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Adana Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Ahmet Karaca, one of the prosecutors in charge of the case of the M\u0130T trucks, also handed himself in at a courthouse on Thursday while on duty in Turkey’s southeastern Gaziantep province.<\/p>\n

Leaked documents show trucks personally authorized by Erdo\u011fan<\/strong>
\nIn 2014, leaked military documents showed that the transportation of arms to Syria in three trucks was personally authorized by President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan when he was prime minister.<\/p>\n

According to one document, then-Adana Governor H\u00fcseyin Avni Co\u015f rushed to the scene when Tak\u00e7\u0131 ordered gendarmerie units to search and seize the three trucks, which were found to contain arms and ammunition. The governor was quoted as saying, \u201cThe trucks were moving under the orders of the prime minister [Erdo\u011fan] and he would never allow any interference into these trucks, even if that costs him his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jan. 20, Deputy Prime Minister B\u00fclent Ar\u0131n\u00e7 labeled key documents revealed about national M\u0130T trucks \u201cpieces of paper,\u201d belittling their importance. Speaking after an eight-and-a-half-hour Cabinet meeting chaired by Erdo\u011fan at the presidential palace, Ar\u0131n\u00e7 argued that the documents related to the claims that M\u0130T trucks had illegally transported arms involving illegal arms shipments to opposition groups in Syria, including al-Qaeda, had been fabricated. “They are trying to deceive the world via ‘pieces of paper’ that were signed by some people based on no concrete information or documents. It is totally fake,” he stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AR\u0130F TEKDAL Ali Aslan K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7 contributed to this report Today’s Zaman The arrest of four prosecutors and a gendarmerie commander involved in the search \u00bb\u00bb [more >>>]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-region","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1457,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455\/revisions\/1457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}