Hürrieyt Daily News published an article by Serkan Demirtaş headlined "Government ruins justice, high court fixes."
"The Constitutional Court’s landmark verdict on the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup case came only a few days after officials from Turkey and the European Union met at a working group meeting to allow the former to fulfill benchmarks for the opening of Chapter 23: Judiciary and fundamental rights," the article begins.
"European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle had talks with senior Turkish officials, apart from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, over these issues, where they discussed Turkey’s shortcomings in the democratization process," he informs.
"In his statement on Tuesday, Füle openly praised the role played by the Constitutional Court in recent months while calling on the government “to decisively engage with the EU on a comprehensive and credible reform process,” the author writes.
"Füle’s mentioning about the need to put an end to polarization and politicization in fact makes one of the most important urgings to the Turkish government, and particularly to Prime Minister Erdoğan. Speaking to European diplomats in Ankara, it become clear that almost all see Erdoğan and his policies as the main source of polarization, leading to tension that only produces more discomfort and political quarrel," the article reads.
"But Füle is talking about another very important thing: The need to bring the confidence back to the judiciary," the author underlines.
"In today’s Turkey, there are not many institutions that are paying attention and exerting efforts to strengthen Turkish democracy. Unfortunately, at the top of the list of those institutions is the government. As often stated by many European diplomats, the Constitutional Court seems to be one of few institutions providing checks and balances, and the very recent Balyoz verdict also proved this," the author believes.
"ts have lost years in prison for nothing and some of them have even lost their lives. The Constitutional Court has done its job; let the justice triumph at the end and partially clear the broken conscious of the people. The government should now also do its job: Do everything to uphold an independent, impartial and efficient judiciary in line with international norms. A system with the Constitutional Court turning into a super appeals court cannot produce healthy justice to society," the author concludes.
