A new bill that would limit prosecutors and judges to membership in only one judicial association or hobby association has sparked questions on judicial independence.
“Everybody has the right to establish an association in line with Article 33 of the Constitution,” said former Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Türk. “And it is a natural right of judges and prosecutors to have such a formation to raise their concerns. Such a move wouldviolate the Constitution,” Türk said.
The government is planning to pass a bill which would only allow members of the judiciary to become members of one new umbrella organization, the Turkey Judges and Prosecutors’ Association.
The only exception would be hobby associations – judges and prosecutors would also be allowed to become members of associations for pastimes such as painting, music, sculpting and sports, daily Hürriyet reported Friday.
“It is clear that there is a real problem,” said Ahmet İyimaya, chairman of Parliament’s justice commission. “The situation of those association representatives who deal with politics should be questioned in the commission within the frame of neutrality.”
The draft bill is currently pending in Parliament’s justice commission and the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, is planning to pass the draft during Parliament’s next session after October.
The move is considered to be a counterattack to eliminate the Judges and Prosecutors Association, or YARSAV, which is staunchly critical of the government’s judiciary-related projects, including the current constitutional amendments that will go to a nationwide referendum Sept. 12.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently criticized YARSAV, saying associations like it should not exist.
The move will also affect the Democratic Judiciary Association founded by Osman Can, who is supportive of the majority of the government’s projects related to the judiciary.
If the bill is passed, current organizations such as YARSAV and the Democratic Judiciary Association would be closed.
Rıza Türmen, a former judge at the European Court of Human Rights, said the move constituted a violation of both human rights and the principle that the judiciary should be immune from executive power.
‘Turkey may lose case’
“If a complaint is filed against Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights, Turkey will lose the case as it is the basic right of individuals to form an association,” Türmen told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Friday.
“And the major criterion for the legitimacy of such judicial associations is the immunity from executive power. All judicial associations in Europe are independent from the government,” Türmen said.
“It is just like the authoritarian manner which could be found in communist regimes to say, ‘You can’t organize, I will organize you.’”
The Daily News was unable to reach Can, but YARSAV Chairwoman Emine Ülker Tarhan said the move was a sign of the government’s intolerance of different and critical voices.
YARSAV, a member of the International Association of Judges, was formed in line with judicial norms in Europe, according to Tarhan.
“The government earlier came up with two similar bills which proposed such a single-roof union for prosecutors and judges. The attempts directly targeted our association, as it was the single association at the time,” Tarhan told Daily News.
“It seems the government has heated up the issue. Our foundation’s purpose is to secure judicial independence and show resistance against developments harming the judiciary. But the government sees judicial supervision as a kind of overstepping boundaries. It is disturbed when we voice our concerns,” she said.
“And, there has been a judicial organization in Europe for about 113 years. In many of European countries, there is more than one association,” she said.
