Well known for prostrating himself before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s constitutional court chairman has been reappointed for a further five years.
The constitutional court re-elected Zühtü Arslan as its chairman on Thursday. Arslan received the vote of nine members to the five of his challenger.
Arslan was harshly criticized as the head of the Supreme Court in the country due to a photo showing himself prostrating before Erdogan during a reception back in 2017.
His controversial decisions include approving President Erdogan’s decrees as well as the implementation of emergency rule following the botched 2016 coup attempt.
These rules led tens of thousands of people being dismissed from their jobs in government while tens of thousands of others detained or arrested, as a part of the post-coup crackdown in Turkey.
The constitutional court has also been criticized for overruling the objections against appeals for alleged human rights violations such as long-arbitrary imprisonment, torture and rape during detention.
Arslan will serve as president of the high court for four more years.
An outspoken foe of the opposition
But if their groans of protest from the opposition at Arslan’s appointment, it is the new appointment of Yıldız Seferinoğlu to the constitutional court that has raised an eyebrow.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has significantly altered the way the judiciary operates and is appointed since 2011, appointed Seferinoğlu, the deputy justice minister, as a member of the Constitutional Court.
The appointment was announced in the Official Gazette on Friday.
Among the amendments to the constitution that were approved in a hotly contested 2017 referendum, the country’s president is allowed to appoint four members to the constitutional court
Seferinoğlu is an ex-MP of President Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP). He has been the fourth member appointed by Erdogan.
55-year-old Seferinoglu has a master’s degree on human rights and civil freedoms at the Faculty of Law at Leicester University and contributed to the European Court of Human Rights in 2001.
In recent years, he has openly criticized opposition parties, the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) on his Twitter account.
He claimed “some powers were planning to create a Turkey without Erdogan” and he blamed two opposition parties to be soulmates against AKP.
He wrote in one of his many critical tweets that HDP was oppressing Kurdish citizens and shared his hope for a poll defeat for the Kurdish majority party.
He called Erdogan “The founding president of our party, our leader” in another post.
Tarihi bir güne şahitlik ettik. Kurucu Genel Başkanımız, liderimiz Recep Tayyip Erdoğan evine geri döndü, hasret bitti. pic.twitter.com/HreSGMk8ac
— Yıldız Seferinoğlu (@YSeferinoglu) May 2, 2017
Rule of law under the AKP government has been very controversial
The Supreme Court of Appeals President İsmail Rüştü Cirit and Council of State President Zerrin Güngör had joined Erdogan on a trip to a tea plantation in 2016.
They were condemned by Turkey’s opposition over what the opposition alleged was a close relationship between the judiciary and Erdogan.
Erdogan heckling of Metin Feyzioğlu, the head of Turkish bar association, at a judicial ceremony also raised eyebrows. Erdogan accused him of rudeness for speaking critically of the government during the ceremony.
“You are speaking falsehoods… How could there be such rudeness?” Erdogan shouted angrily before he stormed out of the hall.
Turkey’s justice minister says “judiciary activism” is a thing of the past
The post Turkey’s top constitutional judge is reappointed as Erdogan appoints ex-AK party member renowned for slagging off the opposition appeared first on IPA NEWS.
from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2019/01/26/turkeys-top-constitutional-judge-is-reappointed-as-erdogan-appoints-ex-ak-party-member-renowned-for-slagging-off-the-opposition/
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