Need for judicial reform

An official step regarding building a coalition has not been taken yet. Since the parliamentary speakership board has not been formed, the duty of forming a government has also not been assigned yet, which indicates that a coalition might last until the second half of August next year. Other agenda topics are being glossed over since Turkey has mainly focused on the issue of finding a coalition. Judicial reform is one of these neglected topics. It is known that societal faith in the judiciary has been damaged to a great extent within the past couple of years. Although the new members of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) have been engaging in activities to rebuild trust for the last eight months, many people still agree that trust in the institution has not yet reached the desired levels.

A call issued by the Council of Europe's Venice Commission last month is significant and remarkable since it touched on this problem in Turkey. Some judges and prosecutors affiliated with the Gülen Movement organized themselves and filed an appeal by distorting facts, which surely influenced the commission to pen such a call. The text and addenda penned by the commission create an impression that the commission has acted solely by considering the organized letters and messages issued by the Gülen Movement without conducting any research. The majority of presumptions in the text conform to the discourses of opinion formers and press members affiliated with the Gülen Movement in Turkey. They and the commission must know that they were declared null and void due to the lack of venue and jurisdiction, and the decisions are not exercisable in any country in the world. But if the facts are distorted, the commission does not act responsibly toward the issue and Turkey's institutions neglect Europe, then the appearance of such calls will be inevitable.

But still, it is not right to view the commission's announcement only as an unjust call against Turkey since this call also expresses the demand to protect and solidify the constitutional and legal guarantees regarding the judiciary. Geographical guarantee is the leading demand. The truth is geographical trust is one of the main factors of jurisdiction guarantee. In Turkey's Constitution and laws, however, this is not recognized as a guarantee. The rotation of judges acts as a general norm due to the strict centralist structure. Although this is determined according to the resolutions issued by the HSYK and primarily the preferences of the judges, it actually causes a judge to perform his duties nearly in the entire country throughout his professional life. This implementation of Turkey is an indication of the "raison d'etat" mentality rather than the judicial guarantee.

The main problem at this point is the fact that a judge who is appointed to another location as punishment as a result of a disciplinary proceeding is forced to change his geographical location and is exclusively sent to the eastern regions. This implementation of the state demonstrates that the eastern region is regarded as a region of exile, and consequently this region is deemed worthy of a just judicial practice. This problem must be included on the agenda of the new Parliament. But this issue is not only limited to this since the only cause of the problem of trust in the judiciary in Turkey is not only the fact that judges are deprived of geographical guarantees. Many other factors can also be listed, including the centralist structure of jurisdiction, the fact that the approval of central supreme court are recognized as criteria for just and true decisions rather than social approval, the inability of enabling pluralism in supreme courts, the deficiencies in law education, the malfunctioning expertise institution and the fact that disconnection between judicial remedies causes parallel judicial practices and opinions.

Judicial reform will inevitably be included on the agenda this legislative year since it poses a strong obstacle for economic development and investments in Turkey as long as a reform-focused coalition can be formed, of course.