Turkey's jurisdiction after the constitutional amendment

The way the judiciary is shaped is one of the pivotal factors of every constitutional order. In the light of the constitutional amendment bill jointly developed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), I would like to provide insight into some of the titles pertinent to jurisdiction that are to be introduced with the presidential system.

First of all, I would like to state the changing formation and role of the Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK). In the current system, the total number of HSK members is 22. While 16 of them are appointed by bureaucrats, only four are assigned by the president. The remaining two members consist of the Justice Minister and his undersecretary.

In the presidential system, the president will be able to directly assign four members, as in the current system. But in addition to that, Parliament will be vested with the power to assign seven members of the HSK for the first time in the republic's history. The Justice Minister and undersecretary will still be present on the board as permanent members. So the number of members is to be decreased to 13 and the parliamentary authority in the formation of the HSK is to be enabled for the first time. As can be seen, the president's authority on that matter is not being extended.

The presidential system is not to change the Supreme Court's powers either. The Supreme Court will be able to supervise the constitutionality of constitutional amendments, laws, executive orders and inner regulations of Parliament while finalizing individual applications. Also, the court will be able to hear the president, the parliamentary speaker, the assistants to the president, ministers, presidents and members of higher judicial bodies, the Chief of General Staff and commanders-in-chief of armed forces on offenses related to their duties.

As the president can only be tried as part of the charges related to treason in the current parliamentary system, the proposed system will enable the bringing of every act of the president to court. Also, a prosecution can be started against the president with the approval of 360 of the 600 Parliament members.

As can be seen, when compared to the current system, the presidential system will establish an order in which measures solidifying the independence and impartiality of the judiciary are taken and those who are elected will have a say aside from the bureaucracy. When all the clichéd analyses claiming that a one-man regime is imminent are set aside, I imagine the above-stated details will be noticed.