MEDEL is following with concern the developments in the case of Judge Ahmet Çakmak.
MEDEL is following with concern the developments in the case of Judge Ahmet Çakmak, who is going to be dismissed according to the most recent news.
Judge Ahmet Çakmak has been previously the target of an action brought by the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK),for the fact of having signed a petition to the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) on the non-eligibility of President Erdoğan for a third term, and was twice subject to a disciplinary action with the sanction of transfer, which entails the possibility of dismissal.
After the devastating effect produced on the independence of the judiciary by the removals and mass arrests of thousands of judges and prosecutors, which followed the attempted coup in 2016, the process of democratic regression in Turkey has continued with the total annihilation of all core elements of the rule of law.
The trials against magistrates, lawyers, human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents; the absence of minimum guarantees of due process especially in terrorism-related cases; the several judgments of the European Court of Human Rights about arbitrary detentions are all the clear evidence that the Turkish courts do not any longer offer to their citizens the guarantee of impartial judges, due process and protection of their fundamental rights.
Removing and sanctioning judges for positions critical of the government is part of a strategy that in recent years has consolidated the control over the judiciary and contributed to its total subjugation.
MEDEL will continue to closely follow the case of Judge Ahmet Çakmak and support all unlawfully removed and detained judges and prosecutors.
July 13th, 2023