Attorney Gönenç Gürkaynak's commentary on the Court of Cassation's criminal complaint: The whole society pays the price

Legal experts have reacted to the Court of Cassation filing a criminal complaint against members of the Constitutional Court. In a post on his social media account, Attorney Gönenç Gürkaynak stated, "The whole society pays the price."

Attorney Gönenç Gürkaynak, who acts as the Turkey representative for Google and Twitter, commented on the Court of Cassation-Constitutional Court (AYM) standoff. Interpreting the Court of Cassation's filing of a criminal complaint against the AYM as being akin to a Magistrate's Court challenging the AYM, Gürkaynak wrote the following:

"The 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, while being a high court, holds a position equivalent to any other court when faced with the Constitutional Court. There is no difference between the Court of Cassation resisting an AYM ruling and a Magistrate's Court challenging an AYM ruling. The Constitutional Court is the sole and highest judicial authority in our country, whose decisions are binding on all courts without exception.

The fact that members of the Constitutional Court are subjected to a criminal complaint by the Court of Cassation due to votes cast in the performance of their duties can only wound a society that expects the Court of Cassation to play a role in establishing justice and equity in the field of criminal law.

Such decisions, which are focused on escalation and adopt an attitude of 'let it break where it is thinnest,' cannot be evaluated within the framework of legal technique. The situation that makes it inevitable to ask the question 'what message is being attempted to be sent to whom' is the inability to answer the question 'where is this courage derived from' with the word 'law.'

It is impossible for any of the judges of the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation who signed this decision to provide a correct answer to the question 'in your opinion, what is the purpose of the Constitutional Court, what is its duty, and how does it perform this duty' within the constitutional framework, while remaining consistent with that answer through the decision they signed.

If the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation has the luxury of not caring about the consequences of this decision, which aims to effectively suspend the Constitutional Court, then the whole society, which expects respect for the rule of law and has a desire to live in a state governed by the rule of law, pays the price for it."