Turkish assembly overturned court ban against Erdogan in 2003

LAHORE: Contrary to the common universal belief and understanding that judiciary reigns supreme over legislators, Turkey's parliament had approved what could be dubbed as a historic legal change in 2003 to overturn current President Recap Tayyip Erdogan’s court ban.

The legislation had consequently allowed Erdogan to contest a by-election and replace his party colleague and the then prime minister Abdullah Gul immediately on March 14 of the same year, research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” shows.

The Turkish parliament had thus embarked upon the road to become the first modern democracy model, whereby the rule of law established by the principle of the separation of powers: the executive, parliament and the judiciary, continues to prevail.

Erdogan’s return to political forefront

Abdullah Gul had become Turkish Prime Minister after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) had won a landslide victory -- with two-thirds majority -- in the 2002 general elections.

Gul’s colleague and leader, Erdogan, was still banned from office and unable to assume the role due to a court restriction on his participation in politics, but a secured legislation had eventually allowed his return to power politics.

It goes without saying that Erdogan remains one of the most successful politicians in the Republican era of Turkish history.

Since 1994, he has taken part in three general elections, three local elections, one by-election and two referendums, none of which he has lost!

On March 11, 2003, the CNN had reported: “The AKP won a majority in last November's election, but Erdogan was barred from running because of a former conviction for religious sedition. The new government changed the law to allow him to run in Sunday's by-election.”  

Erdogan’s political background

The 63-year old incumbent Turkish President began his political career as the mayor of Istanbul, Turkey, from 1994 to 1998. Prior to that, he was a member of the Turkish Welfare Party and the founder and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001.

Tayyip Erdogan’s conviction and court ban

In 1999, Erdogan was sentenced to 10 months in jail but was freed after serving four. He was convicted for inciting religious hatred after reading an Islamic poem, which included the lines: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers ..."

In 1998, Erdogan’s Welfare Party, a fundamentalist political entity, was declared unconstitutional on the grounds of threatening the secularism of Turkey and was shut down by country’s constitutional court.

Erdogan hence became a prominent speaker at demonstrations held by his party colleagues.

Under Article 312/2 of the Turkish Penal Code, his recitation was regarded as an incitement to violence and religious or racial hatred.

He was, therefore, given a 10-month prison sentence of which he served four months, from March 24, 1999 to July 27, 1999.

Due to his conviction, Erdogan was forced to give up his mayoral position. The conviction also stipulated a political ban, which prevented him from participating in parliamentary elections.

He had appealed for the sentence to be converted to a monetary fine, but it was reduced to 120 days instead.

Turkish parliament’s sweeping plans continue

A July 1, 2016 report of Reuters news agency states: “Turkey's parliament has approved sweeping plans to restructure the high courts, in a victory for President Tayyip Erdogan that critics say will allow him to remove troublesome judges and tighten his grip over the judiciary. The ruling AK Party has said the law will clear bottlenecks in the legal system. But opponents see it as giving Erdogan even more power at a time when he is seeking a constitutional change to introduce an executive presidency.”

The media outlet had maintained: “The main opposition CHP said it would launch an appeal at the Constitutional Court, although the success of that challenge looks doubtful. The European Union has repeatedly raised concerns about the erosion of judicial independence in Turkey, with officials warning it is taking the country away from European standards and further undermining its already strained EU membership bid.”

The Reuters had gone on to state: “Under the new law, most of the 711 judges at two of the highest courts - the Council of State, which hears cases lodged by citizens against the government, and the Supreme Court of Appeals - will be removed. It is not clear how many of them will be reappointed.”

Present political situation in Turkey

On April 16, 2017, a Constitutional Referendum was held, where the voters in Turkey (and Turkish citizens abroad) voted on a set of 18 proposed amendments to the Constitution of Turkey. The amendments include the replacement of the existing parliamentary system with a Presidential system.

According to a BBC News report, the post of Prime Minister was to be abolished, and the Presidency would become an executive post vested with broad executive powers. Parliament would be increased from 550 seats to 600 seats. The referendum also called for changes to the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors.

Controversies and corruption allegations

During the last one decade or so, numerous controversies and scandals have haunted the 12th Turkish President Recap Erdogan, his family members and his cabinet loyalists, both within and outside Turkey.

In June 2016, a large number of German individuals and civil rights groups, including politicians, activists and artists etc had filed a criminal complaint against Turkish President Erdogan on charges of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” in relation to the country’s ongoing anti-terrorism operations in the southeastern Kurdish provinces.

In 2016, Erdogan, under whom the Turkish public debt as a percentage of annual GDP had declined from 74 per cent in 2002 to 39 per cent in 2009, was accused of forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu due to latter’s scepticism over the proposed presidential system. Davutoglu was replaced by Premier Yildrim.

Erdogan also came under fire for constructing the world’s largest palace on a 50-acre land of the Ataturk Forest Farm and Zoo for his own use as president and has been repeatedly accused of breaching the constitutional terms of his office by not maintaining political neutrality. The palace was said to be worth $350 million.

(References: April 9, 2016 edition of the daily Hurriyet newspaper and the New York Times etc).

The Turkish president has often been alleged by Israel and Russia for maintaining financial links with the ISIS or Daesh.

(Reference: The Newsweek)

A couple of years ago, United States Vice President Joe Biden had accused Turkey of funding ISIS, to which Erdogan had angrily responded, “Biden has to apologise for his statements” adding that if no apology is made, Biden would become “history to me.” Biden subsequently apologised.

(Reference: The October 6, 2014 report of the CNN)

Nationwide protests against the perceived authoritarianism of Erdogan’s government were hence witnessed in May 2013, with the internationally-slated police crackdown that had resulted in 22 deaths and the stalling of EU membership negotiations.

(Reference: The May 31, 2013 edition of The Guardian)

Then, a $100 billion government corruption scam had led to the arrests of Erdogan’s close allies in the government. They were alleged of bribery, corruption, fraud, money-laundering and gold smuggling etc.

President Erdogan was out on a foreign tour of Pakistan when the scandal broke.

According to the Deutsche Welle, the Associated Press of America and eminent British news agency “Reuters,” the case was being closely watched in Turkey. US prosecutors said the key suspect in this scam had “close ties” to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

US prosecutors alleged that the prime suspect in this scandal had used his wealth and influence to buy access to corrupt politicians in Turkey and halt investigations against him.

Erdogan was also accused of orchestrating an electoral fraud and when he was criticised on social media, he had blocked the public access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube on numerous occasions.

In February 2015, a 13-year-old child was arrested after allegedly criticising Erdogan on Facebook.

(References: The Huffington Post and the Reuters etc)

A 2009 report issued by the Israeli Ministry had accused Erdogan for his anti-Jewish views.

During the June 2015 Turkish elections campaign, Erdogan had accused the New York Times of being represented by “Jewish capital.” (Reference: The June 6, 2015 edition of the Jerusalem Post and another leader Israeli newspaper “The Haartez)”.

In April 2014, the president of the Turkish Constitutional Court had accused Erdogan of damaging the credibility of the judiciary, labelling his attempts to increase political control over the courts as ‘desperate.”

Remember, the Turkish courts had shut down two former political parties (the Welfare Party in 1998 and the Virtue Party in 2001) of which Erdogan was a member.

The judiciary was thus seen as a significant threat to Erdogan’s new party — the Justice and Development Party.

In 2008, the Turkish Constitutional Court had heard a case in favour of closing down this party and banning 71 of its senior members from politics for five years. Although the AKP survived closure, it had lost 50 per cent of its state funding.

(Reference: The Financial Times)

In February 2016, prosecutors in Bologna (Italy) had launched a money laundering investigation against the 35-year old Bilal Erdogan, the son of the Turkish president. The probe was based on accusations put forward by an exiled political opponent of Tayyip Erdogan.

The Bologna prosecutors’ office had confirmed to various media outlets that the probe had been launched into the activities of Bilal, the third child of the Turkish president.

Turkish businessman Murat Hakan Huzan, a political opponent of President Tayyip Erdogan living in exile in France, had filed a complaint against the Turkish president’s son in September 2015. Erdogan’s son was blamed for smuggling into Italy a large amount of money allegedly gained through illegal economic activities.

(References: The February 17, 2016 editions of The Telegraph and the Independent)

In February 2014, a firestorm had sparked in Turkey when audio recordings, in which President Erdogan was reportedly heard telling his son Bilal to get rid of tens of millions of dollars, were posted on YouTube. The president has described the recordings as a “vile montage,” according to the AFP, though he acknowledged that his telephone had been tapped.

A file containing five audio recordings of conversations between Erdogan and his son from a 26-hour period beginning December 17, 2013, in which he appeared to be instructing his son to conceal very large amounts of money, was posted to YouTube and widely discussed on social media.

(Reference: A Washington DC-based news website Al-Monitor)