Turkish far-right leader Bahçeli once again calls for closure of Constitutional Court

Turkish government’s far-right partner MHP’s leader Devlet Bahçeli once again called for the “closure or reconstruction” of the Constitutional Court and deemed the court president as “poisoned.” He claimed the court president was working for the PKK.

Tuesday November 14 2023 12:11 pm

Duvar English

Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on Nov. 14 urged for the Constitutional Court’s (AYM) closure once more during his speech at the Parliament.

Bahçeli sided with the Court of Cassation’s refusal to comply with the AYM’s decision to release Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) deputy Can Atalay from prison and harshly attacked the latter.

"The AYM is the gall and pain of the justice and legal order," Bahçeli said and recalled some of the decisions it has made so far including “in support” of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in its closure case.

He underscored that "Respect for the judiciary is compulsory (referring to the conviction decision of the Court of Cassation) and this decision should be finalized immediately in the Parliament.”

He denied that there was a regime crisis and deemed the conflict among top courts as an “invention and delusion of political parties.”

Far-right leader said, “AYM’s decisions destroying the law in individual applications are deviations that cannot be counted as a case law.” Bahçeli also claimed that the AYM was trying to put the parliament and the nation under "tutelage."

“Wherever there is a traitor who spews hatred and betrays Turkey, the AYM rewards him with a judgment of violation of rights. The court has distinguished itself as an organ on the side of oppression and against the nation,” Bahçeli said. He referred to the court’s decision to lift blockage on HDP’s treasury aid as “paving the way for transferring money to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).”

Bahçeli continued to refer to the top court as an institution sided with “terrorist organizations,” as he did in past numerous times. The far-right leader also stated that AYM president Zühtü Arslan had a "poisoned mind" and that he was the "sick branch entrenched in the top judiciary.”

Bahçeli even told Arslan to “go to Qandil,” headquarters of the outlawed PKK in the northern Iraq mountains. “The president of the court has lost his objectivity and has taken the front against national unity and brotherhood,” he added.

Bahçeli also attacked the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which staged a sit-in in the Parliament against the Court of Cassation’s decision and said, "It is arrogant and insolent for the group that staged a sit-in in the Parliament to speak against the Court of Cassation.”