Prof. Dr. Adem Sözüer speaking at TÜSİAD panel: 'Constitutional Court rulings are not being implemented, non-existent laws are being applied'

News: Beril KALELİ

Speaking at a panel held during the TÜSİAD Ordinary General Assembly, criminal law expert Prof. Dr. Adem Sözüer stated that Constitutional Court rulings are binding on everyone but are not being implemented, adding, "Non-existent laws are being applied, and searches can be conducted at night. The Constitution says regarding publications; a publication ban cannot be imposed. However, even though there is no law, a judge imposes a publication ban... Censorship can be implemented through Chief Public Prosecutor's Office statements, and mentioning a person's name in the entire press can be banned... Even children are being arrested for insulting the President.”

The Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) held its ordinary General Assembly meeting today.

Following the opening speeches, a panel titled "Evaluations from the Perspective of Economy, Foreign Policy, and Law" was held at the meeting. Moderated by journalist Elif Ergu, the panel featured former Cairo Ambassador Şafak Göktürk, former Central Bank chief economist Prof. Dr. Hakan Kara, and criminal law expert Prof. Dr. Adem Sözüer as speakers.

Taking the floor first at the panel, Adem Sözüer evaluated the Turkish agenda from a legal perspective. Expressing that law is not being applied in Turkey and providing examples, Adem Sözüer also touched upon censorship and publication bans.

"MENTIONING A PERSON'S NAME IN THE PRESS CAN BE BANNED"

Regarding the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launching an ex officio investigation into Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu for "attempting to influence a fair trial" and "attempting to influence a public official performing their duty" following his remarks about an expert witness involved in investigations against him, Sözüer said, "Censorship can now be implemented in Turkey even through Chief Public Prosecutor's Office statements. Can you imagine, mentioning a person's name in the entire press can be banned with a single sentence from a Chief Public Prosecutor's Office statement, which is not in any law in Turkey."

"Our Constitution states so clearly that a publication ban cannot be imposed on publications, and there is no censorship. However, a judge finds non-existent laws and imposes a publication ban on events. If desired, such a law could be made, but they impose a publication ban even without such a bad law," said Sözüer, adding:

"Censorship can now be implemented in Turkey even through Chief Public Prosecutor's Office statements. The other day, you know, investigations were opened regarding an expert witness whose impartiality was being questioned. I was also invited to television programs, and I was asked, 'Professor, we are going to ask a question about that expert's impartiality, but we cannot mention their name because the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced it, and we asked our lawyer, and they said don't mention the name just in case.' Can you imagine, mentioning a person's name in the entire press can be banned with a single sentence from a Chief Public Prosecutor's Office statement, which is not in any law in Turkey."

"WHY IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS AT THE TÜSİAD GENERAL ASSEMBLY?"

Drawing attention to the fact that criminal procedure law is being discussed to this extent at the TÜSİAD General Assembly, Sözüer continued:

"There is a general assembly here that is almost like the opening of a criminal procedure law course at a law faculty, rather than a TÜSİAD opening. Why, I wonder, is everyone talking about arrests and detentions? We are at TÜSİAD. So why are we talking about these? Because, to understand what kind of being a human is accepted as in a country, to understand what kind of regime is in that country, we have a seismograph, and that seismograph is criminal law. And the seismograph is giving very strong signals. You know, a seismograph shows tremors in earthquakes.

I wonder, like in earthquakes, will we leave aside what the seismograph and science say and continue to build in violation of zoning rules, that is, will we be able to continue our work as if nothing happened despite the legal seismograph revealing these major tremors, or will we?"

"EVEN CHILDREN ARE BEING ARRESTED FOR INSULTING THE PRESIDENT"

"I want to give a few examples of what tremors the seismograph is showing. The first example: in a state of law, there are legal rules, and these rules are applied correctly or incorrectly. Despite the reforms we made during the European Union process that were held up as examples to the world, are these rules being applied incorrectly, which is why we are complaining? No, these laws are not being applied. So what is being applied? The laws I call non-existent laws are being applied. Constitutional Court rulings, which are clearly written in the Constitution, bind everyone, including those sitting here, primarily the government, judicial bodies, and all individuals. However, those rulings are not being implemented either. It is forbidden to use handcuffs in our country; that is the law. But the non-existent law says we will put these handcuffs on a female journalist who says something that annoys us and we will expose her. That is the non-existent law.

Let me give another example. Do you know that in Turkey, arrests are prohibited for certain penalty amounts? Let me give the most important example regarding children; children cannot be arrested for crimes with prison sentences of up to 5 years. But even children are being arrested for insulting the President. This also comes into play as a non-existent law."

"NON-EXISTENT LAWS COME INTO PLAY AND SEARCHES CAN WELL BE CONDUCTED AT NIGHT"

"There are, of course, other examples regarding non-existent laws. For instance, your home cannot be searched at night unless there is a flagrant crime. Non-existent laws come into play and searches can well be conducted at night. Let me give an example from our Constitution; our Constitution states so clearly that a publication ban cannot be imposed on publications, and there is no censorship. However, a judge finds non-existent laws and imposes a publication ban on events. If desired, such a law could be made, but they impose a publication ban even without such a bad law.

Censorship can now be implemented in Turkey even through Chief Public Prosecutor's Office statements. The other day, you know, investigations were opened regarding an expert witness whose impartiality was being questioned. I was also invited to television programs, and I was asked, 'Professor, we are going to ask a question about that expert's impartiality, but we cannot mention their name because the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced it, and we asked our lawyer, and they said don't mention the name just in case.' Can you imagine, mentioning a person's name in the entire press can be banned with a single sentence from a Chief Public Prosecutor's Office statement, which is not in any law in Turkey.

The reforms to the Penal Code were very successful. When those reforms were made, we received a negotiation date; you remember that famous vote and the enthusiasm in the European Parliament. That happened thanks to these laws. Why did we receive a negotiation date specifically thanks to the penal codes, why were these so important? Because you secure people's freedoms with penal codes."

"THERE ARE TWO STATES, WE DO NOT KNOW WHICH ONE WE ARE BEING GOVERNED BY"

Criticizing the fact that Osman Kavala and Can Atalay are still being held in prison, Sözüer said, "Actually, the judicial decision should have been implemented years ago and they should have been released years ago. Despite this law, why are these people not being released? We are facing such a situation there; we have our state, it has its rules, and then there is the other state; there are two states. We do not know which one we are being governed by. There is a second state, and it is effective. It makes the decision in areas related to political power where decisions are made politically. That is when non-existent laws come into play. Could it ever cross our minds that Constitutional Court rulings would not be implemented..."

News Source: 12punto