Discharged teacher files a complaint against State of Emergency Commission’s judges

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Discharged from public service by a Statutory Decree on October 29, 2016 following the July 15 coup attempt, primary school teacher Engin Karataş's application to the State of Emergency Commission was previously rejected on the grounds of his one-person protests at Bodrum Square in Muğla, where he was expressing his demand for reinstatement.

Engin Karataş has recently appealed to the Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) and filed a complaint against the judges of the State of Emergency Commission, requesting that an investigation be launched against the judges on charge of "misconduct in office."

Discharge based on a non-existing document

In his criminal complaint, Karataş has indicated that the document mentioned in the Commission's detailed decision does not exist.

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Engin Karataş previously filed a lawsuit following the State of Emergency Commission's rejection of his application for reinstatement.

The Ankara 22nd Administrative Court, in a written correspondence with the Ministry of National Education, requested the documents pertaining to the allegation that Karataş was "affiliated with the [outlawed] Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C)".

Having written to the Ministry of National Education, the State of Emergency Commission previously argued that the personnel file of Engin Karataş contained information as to his links with the organization.

In the document dated July 28, 2021 and sent to the court by the Inspection Board of the Ministry of Education, it was indicated that the Board had only the State of Emergency Commission's decision and that it had no other report, minute or document as to the allegation.

Against this backdrop, Karataş, in his petition of criminal complaint, has underlined that the non-existence of the document in question was understood during the legal proceedings at the administrative court.

Reason for dicharge: Protest against discharge

The petition has also recalled that the State of Emergency Commission cited the lawsuits over the protests that Karataş staged for reinstatement following his discharge as the reason for the rejection:

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"After I was dismissed by a Statutory Decree, I exercised my Constitutional right and held protests expressing my request for reinstatement. My protests did not disturb anyone. There came no complaints from citizens. But I was detained by police during some of my protests and lawsuits were filed against me. The courts have given rulings of acquittal.

"Once I was detained during a statement for the press held upon the call of my union, the Education and Science Laborers Union (Eğitim-Sen). A lawsuit for 'propagandizing for a terrorist organization' was filed against me. I have been acquitted in the end. There is no final court ruling against me. These are the cases mentioned by the Commission's Judges in the National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP) examination.

"The judges have violated the principle of presumption of innocence. Moreover, as I did not start protesting while I was still working, there was no court case filed against me that could be related with."

Engin Karataş has noted that since there is no other evidence for his discharge than this, no concrete evidence that will require his dismissal or rejection of his request for reinstatement has been presented.

'I started carrying a banner with my knees shaking'

Karataş explained how he started his protests in following words:

"After that, I started following Nuriye Gülmen and Acun Karadağ on Facebook and got impressed by them. I started to carry a banner in silence with my knees shaking at Bodrum Municipality Square in front of my school.

"When the police detained me for the first time and wanted to put me in the cage behind the police car, I told them that I did not want to go in there and said that I would sit on the back seat. I said, 'It is where the criminals sit. I am not a criminal.' When I did not want to go in there, police officers pushed me into it. I have got used to it after that. Now, I go in there myself." (AS/SD)