Deputy: This Is AKP's HSYK

An opposition deputy has criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for assigning pro-ruling party figures as members to the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK).

“This HSYK is the AKP's [ruling Justice and Development Party] HSYK,” Özcan Yeniçeri, a deputy from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) said at a press meeting on Monday, indicating that such a HSYK would serve the interests of the ruling party.

President Erdoğan appointed, over the weekend, four members to the board, three of whom have direct relations with the ruling AK Party, Erdoğan's former party.

Noting that the judiciary has largely been subordinated to the government, the MHP deputy maintained at the press meeting in Parliament that the judiciary has been making serious efforts cover up corruption in public tenders.

When asked about claims that the much-criticized security package which the government recently brought before Parliament had been prepared by some jurists at the President's Office under President Erdoğan's instructions, Yeniçeri accused Erdoğan of creating a state crisis by stealing the prime minister's role.

Noting that Erdoğan has also been acting like a prime minister since being elected in August, turning thereby the presidency into a political post, Yeniçeri described the situation as a crisis of state, saying: “The president is making a statement every single day. This is the first time [such a thing is happening] in the Turkish Republic. He is the one who is controlling the [country's] agenda.”

A piece of draft legislation that empowers police and prosecutors with sweeping powers in searches, seizures, detentions and arrests in an effort to punish dissidents was prepared by a group of jurists at the behest of Erdoğan without the knowledge of the government, the Taraf daily claimed on Monday.

The MHP deputy also blamed the government for the terrorist acts which recently took place in urban areas, as a settlement process launched to resolve the country's Kurdish issue has been faltering.

“Terrorism has become more widespread in cities than in the countryside during the settlement process,” said Yeniçeri, who maintained that the process should be considered over after the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) recently declared autonomy in the Cizre district of Şırnak province in the country's predominantly Kurdish Southeast.

Emrullah Bayrak (Cihan/Today's Zaman)