Cankaya And The Judiciary

BY DERYA SAZAK
MILLIYET- The media, universities, and the judiciary; main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said that his party sees the besieging of these three areas is a part of a plan to transform Turkey.

These institutions will be seized, even torn down! The CHP tried to block a recent bill changing procedures for appointing judges and prosecutors, but Parliament passed it lighting speed, and the president approved it before the ink even had a chance to dry.

The law sets new arrangements in interviews for these posts. Baykal blasted how the president signed the law without reviewing it. Calling the new law a danger to the independence of the judiciary, he said, `It is regrettable that the president is playing his assigned role him in this process so well. The need for a president who is impartial, inspires confidence and defends the Constitution seems even clearer following recent incidents. Unfortunately, President Abdullah Gul didn't take a stand against the government's improper activities, and failed to act as the public expects him to. His signing of the law in a rush, at three o'clock in early morning, after just arriving Ankara from Pakistan, should be reviewed. Wasn't the president obliged to have his analysts and lawyers examine the controversial law to see if there was anything wrong with it?'

The CHP leader asked, `Why doesn't the president carry out his normal examination and inspection process? This situation is dispiriting in terms of both the rule of law and the president's position.'

It's not hard to guess that the source of Baykal's anxieties lie in judicial hiring from the (Fethullah) Gulen community. Stressing that Cankaya's impartiality was compromised when Gul took office, Baykal objected to the law's speedy approval, and asked, `Did the order (to do this) come from someplace higher?'

Why did Cankaya sign the law in a rush?

Was it only to highlight the difference between Gul and his predecessor Ahmet Necdet Sezer?

Have the promises made before Gul was elected been kept?!