On the last days, MEDEL got news from Turkey, which give rise to great concern about the stability of the democracy, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in that country.
In fact, there is news about an eminent project to reform the High Judicial Council, the supreme governing body of the judiciary and guardian of judicial independence and rule of law.
The reform project suggests to permit a direct interference of the Government on the carrier of judges and prosecutors and on the internal management of the judiciary.
This reform proposal infringes a number of minimum standards on the independence of judicial power accepted by various European institutions, namely the Council of Europe and the European Union.
MEDEL strongly protests against the aim of the Turkish Government to gain control over the judiciary and will report to all the European institutions the dangerous consequences of that proposal reform.
MEDEL also calls upon all EU institutions and all institutions that in the world defend human rights to join the protests and approach the Turkish authorities immediately underlining, that such a reform amounts to an attack against democracy and against the independence of the Turkish judicial power.
Finally, MEDEL appeals to the Turkish Parliament to reject that reform to make sure that Turkey stays to be a member of the community of countries where democracy, the rule of law and human rights are respected.
LX. 13/1/2014
António Cluny