Counterterrorism judge found to be PM’s strong supporter


Date posted: August 2, 2014

A judge who was recently appointed to a counterterrorism court in the eastern city of Van has been revealed to be a strong supporter of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Judge Yusuf Şahin, who was appointed to the Van Counterterrorism Court in April, shared a photo of the prime minister on Facebook with the tag “Liderlerin lideri Erdoğan” (Erdoğan, leader of all leaders). The judge also posted comments on Facebook praising the prime minister and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and leveling strong criticism at Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, the inspiration behind the faith-based Hizmet movement, which works in the fields of education, charity and outreach.

The discovery of Judge Şahin’s strong support for the prime minister comes shortly after a statement by Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) 1st Chamber President İbrahim Okur, who told the media last week that his board was wrong to appoint some controversial figures to the newly established penal courts of peace in İstanbul.

The 1st Chamber of the HSYK, the composition of which was redesigned by the government following a corruption operation on Dec. 17, has already appointed 110 penal judges of peace across Turkey, six of whom will serve in İstanbul.

Okur confessed to having made mistakes in the appointment of the six penal judges of peace appointed to İstanbul. Some of the six made a number of controversial decisions in the fallout of the Dec. 17 corruption and bribery operation, as part of which over 50 people — including the sons of several then-Cabinet ministers, businessmen and bureaucrats — were detained.

“We knew that Hulusi Pur [who was appointed to the İstanbul 2nd Penal Court of Peace] decided to release six people who had been arrested as part of the Dec. 17 [corruption] investigation. If we had known that the three other judges had made decisions in favor of the [corruption] suspects, the picture might be different now. We made a mistake,” Okur told the Hürriyet daily on July 25.

One of the three judges Okur referred to is İslam Çiçek, who recently ruled to arrest 31 police officers as part of a government-backed operation against the police force. Çiçek came to prominence in early March when he was also found to be a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Erdoğan, with the judge’s Facebook profile raising suspicions over his objectivity. Çiçek “liked” a Facebook page created by a pro-Erdoğan group titled “Allah uzun ömür versin Uzun Adam” (May God grant you a long life, Tall Man). The moniker “Uzun Adam” (Tall Man) is often used to refer to Erdoğan by his supporters.

Soon after Çiçek’s profile was highlighted in media reports, he closed his Facebook account.

Source: Today's Zaman , August 01, 2014

Tags: | | |


Related News

Turkey, ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ and ‘Titanic’

Questions to challenge the primary and unjustified premise: What judicial (or other) process determined that these corruption investigations were a coup attempt against the government? What proof or evidence do you have to support this most serious claim? What disciplinary process did you undertake to determine that the people that were purged were members and culprits of this ‘coup’? In the absence of evidence and disciplinary process how did you determine these people’s association with Hizmet? When is government corruption not a judicial coup? How can you have the right to unilaterally determine the intent and purpose of these ongoing judicial investigations when your government is implicated in them? If your government can purge over 7,000 police officers (and thereby affect and prevent these investigations) without evidence, due process or disciplinary procedure, do you not set a precedent for every future potentially corrupt government to follow?

200 public servants sue PM over ‘parallel state’ statements

Interior Minister Efkan Ala was questioned about the government’s actions against “the parallel state” and the “Cemaat,” referring to the followers of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has been in voluntary exile in the United States for over a decade.

The Fall of Turkey

Western officials have preferred to raise concerns over the steady dismantling of Turkey’s free institutions only privately with their counterparts in Ankara. This approach has failed. That failure has left many millions of pro-democracy Turks to fend for themselves, while a once-fringe ideological element in the AKP, reared on Islamist supremacism, has been emboldened.

Turkish PM Erdoğan’s rhetoric and reality

One of the main problems that Turkish and foreign interlocutors of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan complain of is that he employs fiery rhetoric, with a special emphasis on drama, to score points with his home base of political Islamists, a narrow minority within his popular ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

Prominent Alevi leader welcomes Gülen’s remarks on bridge controversy

HÜSEYİN AYDIN, İSTANBUL Fermani Altun, head of the World Ehl-i Beyt Foundation, a leading Alevi association, has welcomed Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s recent remarks in which he stressed Alevi-Sunni brotherhood amidst an ongoing debate over the naming of a new bridge after an Ottoman sultan considered controversial by Alevis. In a speech broadcast on herkul.org on Wednesday, […]

Children from all over the world embarked on Turkish voyage

Around 22 years ago, Fethullah Gülen said, “The day will come when you will no longer fit into the stadiums.” In fact, it turned out to be true. The Turkish Olympiad, which began in 2003 with young people from 17 different countries, has grown to the point that this year we hosted 2,000 students from 140 countries. The Olympiad came to an end in Istanbul with a magnificent final ceremony.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Minister Yazici Visits Turkish Schools in Yemen

The gov’t in Turkey is committing genocide

Leaked photo shows 11 hijabi women, 2 babies in Bursa prison on terror, coup charges

JWF statement on allegations against Hizmet movement

Symposium concludes: Hizmet movement contributes to world peace

New York Times urges Obama not to deport Gulen

Peace Islands Institute Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Copyright 2024 Insightful Neighbor