Judges Cant Function Under Death-Threat

The armed attack on members of the 2nd chamber of the Council of State on Wednesday has raised concern over the effect of threats on the country's judiciary together with questions on why, despite known to be under threat, justices were not protected against such attacks.

Interviewed by Bianet on the issue, lawyer Fikret Ilkiz described the attack as "a despicable massacre of the law" while administrative law expert Prof.Dr. Ulku Azrak warned that "A justice mechanism operating under heavy threat cannot fulfill its function".

Azrak said non of the judges at the Court of Appeals, the Council of State or the Constitutional Court were under protection and asked "if they can be eliminated so easily, how are they supposed to fulfil their duty?"

CNN Turk reported that Council of State 2nd chamber head Mustafa Birden had asked for police protection from the city's security directorate approximately two months ago but his request was turned down on grounds that he could not be given continuous protection but that protection could be provided where and when needed.

Azrak said the administration had a responsibility in this issue and suggested that it would be sued for negligence.

He said there was a vast vacuum of security for members of the judicial system and had Wednesday's attack not taken place at the council building itself, it could have been carried out at the residences of council members.

The law expert blamed newspapers for showing members of the 2nd chamber as a target by publishing their photographs and recalled that in relation to the chamber's decision on wearing headscarves on public duty, high level members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had also been critical and negative.

"This department" he said, "was in a squeeze from all sides".

Azrak added that he did not believe the attack was the work of only one individual and explained there was a fundamentalist group within the Istanbul Bar Association.

Council under pressure

Azrak explained that the Council of State was very important as it was one of the two vital high courts in any judicial system with the other being the Constitutional Court. "These two organs control the political law of the state" he said.

He noted, however, that in Turkey political administrations did not believe in law and preferred instead to use force. "They don't put court decisions into force or they keep the judges under threat. These are very clear uses of force" he said.

Azrak also recalled that in a speech he made as recent as April 5, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said "we face many obstacles at the Council of State. We will either overcome these or we will walk together with those who understand this". (TK/II/YE)