Politics Service
Unable to obtain the consent of large sections of society, the ruling power is trying to prolong its life through pressure and judicial coercion. The one-man regime continues to render the Constitution ineffective while shaping the judiciary according to its own political motives. Whatever the palace judiciary rules, the court decides accordingly. The government, which imprisons politicians, mayors, and journalists, shuts down opposition channels, and appoints trustees to companies, also disregards the decisions of the Supreme Election Board (YSK), the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and the Constitutional Court (AYM). Many individuals, from Can Atalay to Tayfun Kahraman, Selahattin Demirtaş to Osman Kavala, have been held in prison for years. Despite being in prison for seven and a half months, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the CHP’s presidential candidate and mayor of Istanbul, has yet to be sentenced.
Journalist Merdan Yanardağ is sent to prison while a trustee is appointed to TELE 1. Anyone seen as a potential threat by the ruling party is targeted with judicial threats, while at times, conflicts between regime partners bend the judiciary to their will. Lawlessness is becoming the regime’s defining characteristic. The Palace is constantly attacking, for many reasons, primarily to silence the opposition, render it immobile, conceal internal conflicts, and divert attention from society’s most fundamental issues such as poverty, high cost of living, and unemployment.
REJECTION BY THE COURT
The regime’s latest injustice occurred in relation to Tayfun Kahraman, an urban planner detained in the Gezi case. The Istanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court, which rejected Kahraman’s request for a retrial, accused the Constitutional Court, the highest judicial body, of “usurping authority”. Kahraman, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison, has been detained since 25 April 2022. Kahraman has multiple sclerosis. On 31 July 2025, the AYM ruled that Tayfun Kahraman’s “right to a fair trial” had been violated. The court rejected Kahraman’s request for a retrial.
THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME
Although Supreme Court President Ömer Kerkez stated that ‘when our Constitutional Court issues a ruling on a violation, all judicial bodies, all of us, must comply with it and fulfil its requirements,’ throughout the AKP’s time in power, failure to implement these rulings has become routine.
This has also been demonstrated by the politicisation of the law and the disregard of the Constitutional Court’s rulings. Without going too far back, looking at the recent period, the Constitutional Court’s rulings on rights violations concerning Osman Kavala, detained in the Gezi Trial, Can Atalay, and Selahattin Demirtaş, detained in the Kobani trial, were also not implemented. These decisions are as follows:
• While discussions were ongoing about the release of Demirtaş following the finalisation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling on violations, in 2020, the Constitutional Court ruled that there had been a violation of rights, stating that the grounds for the decision to continue Demirtaş’s detention were insufficient. Five years have passed since the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the violation of rights.
• In 2023, the High Court ruled that the ‘right to be elected and engage in political activity’ and the ‘rights to personal liberty and security’ of Can Atalay, a detainee in the Gezi Case and an elected member of parliament, had been violated, but this ruling has still not been implemented.
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PROF. DR. ŞULE ÖZSOY BOYUNSUZ: ‘SOCIAL OPPOSITION MUST NOT BE SILENCED’
“In his speech at the opening of the judicial year, the new president of the Court of Cassation stated that Constitutional Court rulings must be complied with. Therefore, the Supreme Court must warn the 13th High Criminal Court, apply the necessary disciplinary measures, and the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors must also take action. If an institution called a court states that it does not recognise a country’s Constitution, the highest norm of its law, then we have entered a highly arbitrary sphere. Nothing that is contrary to the Constitution is law. The authority to say this also lies with the Constitutional Court. We can criticise, but there is no doubt that we are obliged to comply. In other words, the decision given here has now entered a special realm and is a very clear example of the politicisation of the judiciary…
Who can expect justice from where now? We are now looking to the mouths of political party leaders. The Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights makes a decision, and we wait to see what the politicians, the ruling party, will say. If people have started to expect justice from here, then we are no longer a state governed by the rule of law. The President himself did not say, “We are a state governed by the rule of law”, he said, “We are a state governed by the judiciary”. We are a state in the hands of a politicised judiciary, but we need to be a state governed by the rule of law, not a judicial state.
As a social opposition, we must now stand together. People defending Tayfun Kahraman’s rights and justice today is not just about him personally. It means defending the constitutional order. Furthermore, we must not remain silent in the face of such cruelty inflicted upon one of our own. I could have been in Tayfun Kahraman’s place, someone else could have been, any of us could have been. We cannot remain silent in the face of such immoral cruelty inflicted upon a sick person, a person with a small child.”
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JOURNALISTS PLACED UNDER ‘ACTUAL’ DETENTION
As part of the investigation into Ekrem İmamoğlu, journalists Soner Yalçın, Şaban Sevinç, Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Ruşen Çakır, Yavuz Oğhan and Batuhan Çolak were called to testify. Yesterday morning, Şaban Sevinç, Yavuz Oğhan, Soner Yalçın and Batuhan Çolak were taken from their homes by police forces and brought to the Istanbul Police Headquarters. Ruşen Çakır was also brought to the Police Headquarters at noon. Aslı Aydıntaşbaş was found to be abroad.
The testimonies of the journalists taken to the police headquarters began at around 12:15 p.m. Although CHP Communications Coordinator Yavuz Oğhan signed a statement regarding his release after giving his testimony, he was not released and was reportedly placed under “de facto” detention. Oğhan was released at around 2:15 p.m. Şaban Sevinç was then released at around 2:30 p.m. Soner Yalçın was also released later. Journalist Ruşen Çakır, who announced that he had not been detained in the morning, was also taken to the police station at noon and questioned.
Lawyer Hüseyin Ersöz made a statement regarding the journalists being ‘taken to the police station for questioning.’ Ersöz said, ‘Journalist Yavuz Oğhan and others were taken from their homes in a manner that is not called “detention” but can be described as “de facto detention,” which we have seen frequently recently.’ The Akşam newspaper had claimed that the press advisor to the detained Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, ‘Media A.Ş. President Murat Ongun was financing certain journalists.’ The front-page story in the Akşam newspaper alleged that ‘Murat Ongun provided financial support to various journalists and that these payments were made through Emrah Bağdatlı.’
The names of Batuhan Çolak, Şaban Sevinç, and Yavuz Oğhan, who were taken in for questioning by the police today, were mentioned in the article.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that CHP Information Technology Officer O.G.E. had been detained. The investigation into CHP presidential candidate and Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was transferred to the CHP headquarters. O.G.E., who worked as the Information Technology Officer for the CHP, was detained as part of an operation organised by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. In a statement made by sources at the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, it was claimed that O.G.E. had given the personal information of İBB voters to ‘members of a criminal organisation’. It was reported that O.G.E. was detained on charges of ‘illegally providing or obtaining data and recording personal data’.
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BAR ASSOCIATIONS: ECHR DECISIONS MUST BE IMPLEMENTED IMMEDIATELY
Thirty bar associations issued a written statement regarding the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision on Selahattin Demirtaş, former co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). The statement recalled that on 8 July, the ECHR found that Demirtaş’s detention violated Articles 5 and 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and that this detention was being maintained for political reasons. The statement noted that Turkey’s appeal against this ruling was rejected by the Grand Chamber of the ECHR on 3 November, thereby finalising the decision. It emphasised that the implementation of the Constitutional Court (CC) and ECHR rulings is a requirement and a necessity under the principle of the rule of law. The statement said, ‘As signatory bar associations, we respectfully announce to the public our demand for the immediate implementation of the Constitutional Court and ECHR decisions, for the necessary action to be taken regarding those who have been found to have had their rights violated to date, and for conduct in accordance with the rule of law.’
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EVEN ON THE MOST BASIC RIGHTS, TURKEY IS AT THE BOTTOM!
According to data from the World Justice Project (WJP) ‘Rule of Law Index 2025’ published in October, Turkey, which ranked 117th in 2024, fell one place further this year to 118th. Turkey’s score in the index was measured at 0.41, one of its lowest levels in the last decade. Turkey also ranked 134th out of 143 countries in the ‘Fundamental Rights’ category and was the second most regressed country in terms of the rule of law.
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IF YOU GO FURTHER, YOU CAN NEVER RETURN
There was also a backlash against the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court’s refusal to recognise the Constitutional Court’s decision. Statements made highlighted comments such as ‘a threshold is being crossed in the process of de-constitutionalisation’. Speaking to Cumhuriyet after the decision, Kahraman’s lawyer, Cansu Çiftçi, said, “What they have done is contrary to the law and the Constitution. Constitutional Court rulings bind all judicial and administrative public institutions, all citizens, everyone and everything. We are experiencing a very serious constitutional crisis. We will appeal to the 14th High Criminal Court. This is not just a simple legal crisis. The end result will be that no one will trust the judiciary or the Constitution.”
CHP Chairman Özgür Özel said in a statement, “Today, Turkey is crossing a threshold in the process of de-constitutionalisation, de-regulation and de-institutionalisation. Everyone must come to their senses! You’ve swum and swum and reached a point; if you go further, you won’t be able to turn back, and we will all drown. Özel called on Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş and former Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül to take responsibility for protecting the legal order. Saying that the Judges and Prosecutors Council (HSK) should meet ‘extraordinarily,’ Özel demanded action be taken against the 13th Heavy Penal Court. DEM Party MP Sezai Temelli asked, ‘Violating the Constitution has almost become normal in this country. According to the Constitution, the local court is obliged to implement the Constitutional Court’s decision. If a judge violates this, can we even talk about the rule of law?’
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Hukuksuzluk rejimi kuruldu, published in BirGün newspaper on November 7, 2025.
