Unnecessary Talk

BY ISMET BERKAN
RADIKAL- A few days ago, Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mustafa Bumin made some remarks on the headscarf issue. He said that the Parliament didn’t have the authority to permit the use of headscarves at universities and state bodies, even if they made the required changes to the Constitution.
I’ve previously written in this space that Bumin’s words weren’t entirely accurate, and that if necessary changes are made to the Constitution, the use of headscarves may be allowed in state buildings.
But Bumin’s statement quickly became popular among the controversy-seeking media and politicians. Parliament Speaker Arinc was the last to weigh in.
Unfortunately, Arinc is a politician who is often misunderstood, because whatever he says invites misunderstanding. This time Arinc asked, ‘Can’t the Parliament even abolish the Constitutional Court if it wants to?’
Here comes another misunderstanding. A majority of the media interpreted Arinc’s words as: ‘We will abolish the Constitutional Court if necessary.’
In fact, there was only some unnecessary talk, and nothing more.
Let’s take it from the beginning… Our Constitution calls for the separation of state powers. The legislative, executive and judicial branches must exist together but work independently. These branches of power balance and oversee one another. According to the Constitution, none of these branches is superior to the others.
However, some people tend to think that democracy merely consists of people electing new members to the Parliament. These people assume that the legislative branch is above the others, which is wrong.
The Constitutional Court thinks that it’s the highest authority safeguarding secularism, and it reviews laws made by the Parliament in this manner.
The Parliament actually has the authority to abolish the Constitutional Court, but first it needs to make the necessary changes in the Constitution, and this has never been easy.
As a matter of fact, all this is nothing but hot air. And the people involved in this are the Constitutional Court’s top judge and the Parliament speaker, which is a shame.