All three names elected to HSK membership turn out to be AKP members: One is a former mosque imam

The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) Constitutional and Justice Joint Committee has completed the candidate selection process for membership in the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK). According to a report by Veli Toprak from Sözcü, it was observed that all 3 of the names selected from a pool of 31 candidates, which included a total of 24 lawyers and 7 faculty members, are members of the AKP. It was revealed that one of the candidates previously served as an imam at the Fenerbahçe Selamiçeşme Mosque in Istanbul.

CHP Group Deputy Chairman Ali Mahir Başarır reacted to the list, stating, "I look at the list, and it is as if these are names that applied for candidacy at the AK Party Headquarters."

The committee was chaired by Antalya Deputy Serap Özbudun, who was elected from the Future Party and the CHP list before later switching to the AKP. Among the three names determined by the committee was incumbent HSK member Havvanur Yurtsever, who has served as AKP Zeytinburnu District Vice Chair and as a member of the Istanbul Metropolitan and Zeytinburnu Municipal Councils. Yurtsever, a graduate of Istanbul University Faculty of Law, also previously served as an advisor at the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change.

ONE IS A MOSQUE IMAM

It was learned that one of the candidates, Mustafa Naim Yağcı, previously served as an imam at the Fenerbahçe Selamiçeşme Mosque. Yağcı served as the AKP Ataşehir District Chair and was a mayoral candidate in the same district. Yağcı, who received hafiz training at a Quran course in Rize, graduated from the Istanbul University Faculty of Law after attending Kadıköy Imam Hatip High School.

The third candidate is lawyer İsmail Ergüneş, the former Deputy Minister of Family and Social Services. Ergüneş, who served as the AKP Gaziosmanpaşa District Chair, was a mayoral candidate in the same district in 2014. His resume includes the statement, "He increased the number of Imam Hatip High Schools in Gaziosmanpaşa from three to 6, and the number of Imam Hatip Middle Schools from three to 8."