Displeased by the government’s reply to the Supreme Court’s Board of Chairperson, State Council’s Board of Chairperson made a statement. It stated that the judiciary organs’ sharing of their opinions with the public is not a political act; they take this right from the Constitution.

“The democratic legitimacy of the Supreme Court cannot be debated”

The statement asserted that the authority of the judiciary, which it uses on behalf of the Turkish nation, comes from the same 1982 constitution that the executive and legislative bodies claim theirs do.

Saying, “We watch with concern that the democratic legitimacy of the Supreme Court is being debated”, the State Council’s statement reminded that according to the 6^th article of the Constitution the sovereignty belonged to the people unconditionally and that the Turkish Nation used its sovereignty through its authorized organs according to the Constitution.

Adding that nobody and no organ could use any State authority that was not in the Constitution, the statement said that the judiciary authority was used for the Turkish Nation in accordance with this particular judgment of the Constitution through the independent courts. Therefore, asserted the statement, same as the executive and the legislation, the judiciary, too, takes its authority from the 1982 Constitution.

On Wednesday (May21) the Supreme Court’s Board of Chairperson declared in a manifesto that “All these developments show that the principle of the independence of the judiciary has not been digested yet. Under the rubric of creating a disinterested judiciary lies the attempt to fashion a judiciary protective of the executive and controlled by it.” On the same day, the government spokesperson and the Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek replied to the critique by asserting that the Supreme Court’s Board of Chairperson was not a political organ and therefore could not be a side in political discussions: “It is not the job of the judiciary to discuss the activities of the legislative and executive bodies, and the processes about making laws and a constitution.” (EZÖ)

* This report was put together using CNNtürk.com and NTVMSNBC.com.