Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said Thursday that the government will continue reforms aimed at strengthening the judiciary, improving the efficiency of trials and ensuring citizens can access their rights more quickly.
Speaking during a visit to the Trabzon Governor's Office in Türkiye's Black Sea region, Gürlek said authorities are also continuing to strengthen the physical infrastructure of justice services in the Black Sea province.
“We have completed the project work for the Vakfıkebir Courthouse and held the construction tender,” Gürlek said. “We have also prepared the Of Justice Palace project to provide stronger and more effective judicial services.”
He said officials would inspect the facilities needed to activate new civil and criminal chambers at the Trabzon Regional Court of Appeal, adding that new chambers could be established if necessary.
Gürlek also reiterated the government's commitment to drafting what he described as a civilian, democratic and inclusive constitution.
“We will not give up on the goal of a civilian, democratic and inclusive constitution that our nation has deserved for years,” he said.
“We want to build "the Century of Türkiye" not on a constitutional foundation inherited from the tutelage mentality of the past, but on a strong legal order that places the will of the people at its center and guarantees human dignity and fundamental rights.”
Gürlek said the government’s goals were ambitious but argued that the strength of the Turkish people was greater.
He said Türkiye had moved from fighting for independence under difficult conditions a century ago to developing its own defense industry and technology and playing a greater role internationally.
“We now have a new period ahead of us: a Türkiye completely free from the shadow of terrorism, where criminal organizations have been deprived of their room to operate, legal certainty has been strengthened, and the country moves toward much greater goals with its economy, production and human resources,” he said.
Gürlek also vowed to pursue the financial resources that sustain criminal organizations, saying the government would continue operations against organized crime.
“We are not only pursuing crime and criminals, but also the illicit money that keeps the criminal order alive,” he said. “You cannot cut off the breath of a criminal organization without cutting off the veins of crime and drying up this source.”
He said authorities would show no tolerance toward any structure that threatens public peace and would act within the law.
“There is no structure more powerful than the state,” Gürlek said. “There is nowhere they can escape Turkish justice. Whoever commits a crime, wherever they go, will not get away with what they have done.”
Gürlek also pledged to revisit unresolved cases, including unsolved killings and suspicious deaths.
“Time may pass before justice, but truth does not fade,” he said, adding that a case could remain on a shelf for years but that every unsolved death remains an unresolved matter for the state.
“We will continue to reopen unsolved cases, suspicious deaths and cases that have left a mark on the public conscience,” Gürlek said. “We will dispel doubts, follow the trail of evidence and identify the perpetrators. We will bring those responsible before justice.”
He vowed to pursue cases regardless of where the evidence leads or whom it implicates.
“We are determined and resolute. No matter where it leads or whose path we cross, we will not deviate from our course,” he said.
