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ANKARA: Ruling On Gul Touches Political Nerves

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  • ANKARA: Ruling On Gul Touches Political Nerves

    RULING ON GUL TOUCHES POLITICAL NERVES

    Today's Zaman
    May 20 2009
    Turkey

    An Ankara court ruling ordering President Abdullah Gul to stand trial
    in a decade-old fraud case may heighten political tensions between
    the government and the secularist opposition.

    An Ankara court ruling ordering President Abdullah Gul to stand
    trial in a decade-old fraud case is unlikely to affect the president
    in the short term, but may heighten political tensions between the
    government and the secularist opposition and sabotage efforts led by
    Gul to resolve Turkey's long-standing Kurdish issue.

    The decision of the high criminal court in Ankara's Sincan district
    came as a surprise to many because it ran counter to a prosecutor's
    recommendation made earlier. The Turkish Constitution is also clear
    in specifying that presidents cannot be tried for anything except
    treason. The court disagreed, saying, "It is a rule in the Turkish
    Republic's Constitution and laws that everyone should stand trial."

    The Turkish judiciary, dominated by secularist judges and prosecutors,
    has long been subject to criticism over its interference in
    politics. The European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, has
    repeatedly called for judicial reform.

    Gul, who led Turkey's efforts to become an EU member and played a
    key role in the opening of accession talks with the 27-nation bloc
    in 2005, is now calling for efforts to resolve Turkey's Kurdish
    issue. In remarks he made over the weekend, Gul said significant
    steps were forthcoming and that he was hopeful that the problem would
    be resolved through more democracy because there was "harmony among
    state institutions."

    Ankara court ruling may undermine president's efforts on Kurdish issue

    "I don't think the real issue is whether Gul should stand trial or
    not here. I believe the decision of the court may be linked to Gul's
    efforts to heal the Kurdish issue," said Mehmet Altan, a columnist
    for the Star daily.

    The court ruling against Gul came days after a legal crisis involving
    members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) that erupted
    following an official notice ordering five party deputies to testify
    as part of ongoing legal cases in which they are implicated. The
    deputies, however, refuse to testify, saying they would be subjected
    to discrimination if they were forced to do so because deputies
    from other parties were not forced to testify in court for crimes
    they were charged with having committed before they were elected as
    deputies. They now face the risk of being forcefully taken to court
    by police, raising fears over the possible repetition of an infamous
    incident in the past decade, in which Kurdish deputy Leyla Zana and
    four others were arrested for their affiliation with the outlawed
    Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

    "There are so many groups in Turkey that do not want to see the
    deep-seated problems of this country resolved," Altan told Today's
    Zaman.

    In a statement released late on Monday, Gul's office rejected the
    Ankara court's ruling, stressing that the Constitution dictates
    that the president can be put on trial only for treason. Although the
    court's insistence that Gul should stand trial is legally questionable,
    it may lead to increased criticism from the secularist opposition
    that the president, formerly a member of the ruling Justice and
    Development Party (AK Party), is not willing to go to court to testify
    on corruption charges.

    Burhan Kuzu, professor of constitutional law and a ruling
    Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy who heads a
    commission in Parliament charged with revising the Constitution,
    said it is not possible to try the president, as he is as immune
    from prosecution. Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan backed Kuzu's
    statement and reiterated that Gul cannot be tried on such a charge
    according to Constitution. "He can only stand trial if he is charged
    with betrayal of the country while he is in office, and we need to
    examine the dossier of the prosecution to understand whether he can
    even be tried for the reason the court demanded after he steps down,"
    Toptan added. Similar views were shared by constitutional law professor
    Mustafa Kamalak and former Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Turk.

    In the criminal case in question, known as the "lost trillion case,"
    the administration of the now-defunct Welfare Party (RP) was accused
    of embezzling TL 1 trillion (equivalent to TL 1 million today)
    by forging documents in 1997. The leader of the party at the time,
    Necmettin Erbakan, and several party executives were imprisoned for
    the roles they played in the incident. Gul, who was the RP's deputy
    chairman responsible for foreign relations at the time, did not face
    trial because he had been re-elected as a deputy, thereby becoming
    immune from prosecution. However, experts say that even if he was
    tried he would have been acquitted because his duties in the party
    had nothing to do with financial affairs. Other party executives
    who did not handle financial affairs, such as Å~^evket Kazan, Recai
    Kutan and Oguzhan Asilturk, have all been acquitted. Even the deputy
    chairman and general accountant of party were acquitted.

    After Gul was elected as president, the Ankara Chief Public
    Prosecutor's Office dismissed the charges against Gul, citing Article
    105 of the Turkish Constitution, under which presidents can only stand
    trial for treason and then only if it is authorized by three-fourths
    of the deputies in Parliament. The Sincan 1st High Criminal
    Court, however, overruled the decision of the Ankara Chief Public
    Prosecutor's Office on Monday and demanded that Gul be prosecuted
    for counterfeiting official documents. The court said there was a
    loophole in the Constitution and that it is not clear that presidents
    are immune from prosecution for crimes committed before taking office.

    Gul's office released a statement on Monday dismissing the court's
    ruling. "Our president did not face a criminal case because of
    his immunity, which was not annulled by Parliament despite his
    own persistent requests. However, whereas even the party's deputy
    chairman responsible for financial affairs and general accountant
    were acquitted in the criminal case opened at the time, the efforts
    of some groups to make our president a suspect in a case in which he
    was not tried are definitely not a result of goodwill. In addition,
    because his immunity did not cover legal action for recovery of
    damages, a case was opened against the president and several others,
    but that case was dismissed on April 19, 2007, citing the fact that
    he had no responsibility for financial affairs in his position in
    the party at the time," the statement said.

    Head of court known for controversial decisions This ruling is not the
    first controversial decision by Osman Kacmaz, head of the Sincan 1st
    High Criminal Court. He previously overruled the dismissal of a case
    over a campaign to apologize for the killings of Anatolian Armenians
    in 1915. He also overruled a decision by the Ankara Chief Public
    Prosecutor's Office on the wiretapping of criminal suspects. This
    decision was made after a petition was filed by Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu,
    head of the Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV), known for
    his staunch opposition to the ongoing investigation into Ergenekon,
    a criminal network charged with plotting to topple the government.

    The same court also overruled the dismissal of a case against Prime
    Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over his alleged use of the term "Mr." to
    refer to Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed PKK.
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