President and AKP Chair Erdoğan's statement on the Council of State and the new Constitution: 'Controversial decisions...'

President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made critical remarks at the Judicial Judge and Prosecutor Draw Ceremony. 

Here are the highlights from Erdoğan's speech, which covered the new Constitution, the 8th Judicial Package, and the Council of State's decision:

"OUR JUDICIARY, WHICH HAD FALLEN UNDER THE CONTROL OF FETÖ..."

"You are individuals appointed to fulfill a vital duty for the life of the state and society. I particularly emphasize that you must remain committed to the principle of the rule of law while performing your duties. While achieving the greatest democracy and development breakthroughs in our republican history, we identified strengthening our justice system as one of our four main priorities. We have waged a difficult struggle to both implement the necessary regulations in our constitution and fundamental laws, and to strengthen our judicial organization. We worked very hard to turn our judiciary, which had at times fallen under the control of single-party fascism, at times under tutelage, and at times under FETÖ, back into a power that makes decisions on behalf of our nation. Did we not all witness a post-modern coup carried out with judicial support during the February 28 period? While addressing the physical deficiencies that made it difficult for the judiciary to perform its duties properly, from its personnel to its buildings, we also sought to cleanse our judicial organization of the coup-plotting mentality. We have lived through periods when terrorist organizations targeted our judicial members. You know about the attack on the courthouse in Istanbul last week. If the terrorists had managed to enter the courthouse and reach the judges and prosecutors working there, we cannot even imagine what might have happened, God forbid. We remember with mercy all our judicial members, security forces, and citizens who were martyred in the attacks of terrorist organizations, especially Mehmet Selim Kiraz. 

8TH JUDICIAL PACKAGE

Of course, our judiciary still has problems awaiting solutions. Some of these relate to changes that require constitutional amendments. In this context, we are continuing the reforms we initiated to improve the legislative infrastructure of our justice system without interruption. We shared our judicial reform strategy document with the public in 2019. The 8th Judicial Package, which was submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) in recent days, is one of the steps of this strategy document. The changes brought by this package are as follows: Application periods for objections, appeals, and cassation are being standardized to 2 weeks. The amounts of judicial fines are being redetermined according to current conditions, strengthening their deterrent nature. The process of appointing guardians for convicts is being removed from being automatic and left to the individuals' own decisions. This judicial package, which we believe will be implemented, will be followed by new ones in the coming period. We act with the awareness that it is our duty to solve problems in the judiciary, just as it is our duty to address every problem of the country and the nation.

REACTION TO THE COUNCIL OF STATE'S DECISION

The Council of State's controversial decisions also indicate that it is essential to clarify certain matters more definitively. We have begun to take the first steps in this regard with the 8th Judicial Package. However, we are aware that there are many issues that need to be worked on at the constitutional and legislative levels. A broad consensus ground needs to be established in parliament regarding constitutional amendment. Even if a new constitution is not possible, we will seek ways of consensus for a constitutional amendment that will resolve the problem in the judiciary. Our country must get rid of these debates that harm the judiciary as soon as possible."