Turkey's judicial bodies under influence of government

Supreme Electoral Council's (YSK) refusal of appeals from the opposition parties to annul Turkey’s April 16 referendum has proven once again that YSK and other judicial institutions are under complete influence of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
A photograph taken in 2015 showing President Erdoğan with the representatives of higher judicial bodies casts further shadow on the “independency” of the high judicial organs in Turkey.
Friday, 21 April 2017 06:36

While main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) announced its appeal to the Constitutional Court, the court’s head Zühtü Arslan visited President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan just 2 days after the referendum. This meeting has already casted doubts on the possible decisions of the court.

Turkish Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) made a controversial decision just after the polls were closed, announcing that the unsealed ballots would be counted as valid. Despite many sources indicating that around 2,5 millions of votes could have been manipulated during the referendum, President Erdoğan and his AKP party claimed “victory” based on these results in favour of 'yes' with a narrow margin and full of fraudulent activity.

ARE HIGH JUDICIAL BODIES ‘INDEPENDENT’ IN TURKEY?

Counting the unsealed ballots and envelopes valid with a controversial and unlawful decision based on the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) request, YSK rejected all appeals from the opposition parties and the ‘no’ campaigners to annul the April 16 referendum.

As YSK’s recent refusal to annul the referendum has ignited harsh reactions among the ‘no’ side of the referendum campaign, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has announced that it will appeal to the Constitutional Court of Turkey.

Meanwhile, a photograph taken in 2015 showing President Erdoğan with the representatives of higher judicial bodies casts further shadow on the “independency” of the high judicial organs in Turkey.

HEAD OF YSK: ‘I AM NOT A POLITICIAN. I AM A JUDGE’

Asked about his views on the criticisms regarding the implementation of the referendum after YSK announced to reject the appeals to annul the fraudulent referendum, head of the Electoral Board’s  Sadi Güven told the journalists, “I am not going to answer. I am not a politician. I am a judge.” 

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ praised  YSK’s dismissals of the objections, adding that “The YSK’s decision is the proper decision because YSK evaluated similar issues and made the same decision in the past.”