A portrait of a politicized judiciary

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç visited the Muğla Courthouse on March 9, 2024, accompanied by Aydın Ayaydın, the AKP's candidate for Mayor of Muğla Metropolitan Municipality, and met with the chief public prosecutor and members of the judiciary.

Sharing his thoughts on the meetings via his social media account, Minister Tunç stated the following:

"We visited our Muğla Courthouse and met with our Chief Public Prosecutor, Commission President, members of the judiciary, and our staff. We evaluated the work we are carrying out for the effective delivery of justice services in our beautiful province. I would like to thank all our judicial members and our justice organization who work selflessly for the manifestation of justice."

Up to this point, everything seems normal. The only problem was that the Minister of Justice is also the President of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK). In other words, the Minister of Justice visited the Muğla Courthouse in his capacity as the HSK President. And for this very reason—beyond being the Minister of Justice, which is a political office, but because he is the HSK President—all the judges and prosecutors in the courthouse, excluding the Chief Public Prosecutor and the Commission President (who are representative positions), participated in the meeting.

To put it more simply, Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç is a member of a political party. In this capacity, he has duties such as building new courthouses and providing the materials needed for justice to be served within the courthouse (for example, ensuring courtrooms are fully equipped). However, as the HSK President, he is the head of the HSK, which handles all procedures such as the appointment, promotion, and other personnel rights of all judges and prosecutors in that courthouse. In a sense, he is the superior of all the judges and prosecutors present there. In this capacity, he can change the positions of judges; for example, he can send a judge from Muğla to Van against their will, or he can reassign that judge within the same courthouse, for instance, from being a criminal court judge to a civil court judge. This is a very serious power. Essentially, from a universal perspective, the Minister of Justice also being the HSK President is contrary to judicial independence for this reason. However, despite many constitutional amendments in our country, the practice of the HSK President also being the Minister of Justice has not been ended; for this reason, the politicization of the judiciary—especially if that Minister of Justice does not personally want to prevent it—has become clearly visible. It is for this very reason that the Minister of Justice coming to that courthouse with AKP's Muğla Metropolitan Mayoral candidate Aydın Ayaydın has become a literal photograph of the politicization of the judiciary.

If the Minister of Justice were not also the HSK President, no judge or prosecutor would have wanted to be in that frame. Because being in the same frame as a political party's mayoral candidate would cast a shadow over their independence and impartiality. However, this frame has emerged in recent years as a photograph of the politicization of the judiciary. The Minister of Justice, forgetting his capacity as HSK President, took the Metropolitan Mayoral candidate with him to the courthouse, not only politicizing the judiciary but also campaigning for the candidate from his own party.

The most important feature of being a state of law is that the judiciary is independent and impartial from other branches. The independence and impartiality of the judiciary are accepted in all countries of the world with modern democracy and even serve as a criterion in determining the level of political, cultural, and economic development. In cases where judicial bodies do not have independence from the legislative and executive branches or cannot maintain their impartiality, there will be no point in adopting judicial review, and it will not be possible to speak of the separation of powers that defines the limits of political power or the principles of a state of law.

In conclusion, Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç's visit to the Muğla Courthouse, carried out by taking along a member of a political party and even a person who is a mayoral candidate in the election to be held in 2 weeks, has damaged the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. At the stage we have reached, such visits have become so commonplace that, as seen in this photo, no one is bothered anymore. However, if we put our hands on our hearts and imagined for a moment that we saw the CHP Muğla Mayoral candidate in the same frame, how would it have been reported in the media? Wouldn't the judges and prosecutors in that photo have been lynched in all the pro-government media for losing their independence and impartiality? What I mean is that everyone is actually aware of everything. We are also aware that this government does not want the judiciary to be independent and impartial in our country. However, it should be known by everyone that such damage to judicial independence causes great harm to our state. First and foremost, we wish for our Minister of Justice to act without ever forgetting that he is also the HSK President. Thus, we could accept that, at least in appearance, the behavior in our country is once again in accordance with judicial independence and impartiality.