Erdoğan's harsh rhetoric and groundless threats have no legal basis

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan cannot legally carry out his threat -- “We will pursue them deep into their dens,” repeated once again during his post-election balcony speech in reference to the faith-based Hizmet movement, which Erdoğan repeatedly targets with defamatory words -- as there is no concrete evidence to back up his allegations.

Answering questions in an interview with Sunday's Zaman, chairman of the Law and Life Foundation, Mehmet Kasap, and retired Supreme Court of Appeals Public Prosecutor Ahmet Gündel noted that Prime Minister Erdoğan's rhetoric has clearly been aimed at trying to influence the justice system. Regarding the tension Turkey is experiencing and the damage it is doing, another retired prosecutor, Mete Göktürk, said: “During this period, Turkey has definitely been harmed. It has lost its trust in politics. Civil society has also been harmed. The tension, which has risen high enough to actually damage people's psychological state, needs to drop now. This is the most essential and basic responsibility of the political authority.”

Kasap underscored that as the head of Turkey's executive branch, Prime Minister Erdoğan needs to turn over any documents or evidence of criminal activity he encounters to the appropriate prosecutors. He noted, “While the prime minister has been leading the executive branch in this country, he has also tried to take on the role of both prosecutor and judge. In the meantime, the appearance that he holds some sort of monopoly on legislative power, executive power and judicial power is extremely dangerous from the angle of Turkey being a state adhering to the rule of law.”

Attorney Kasap, who noted that legal circles he is familiar with have warned that bringing Erdoğan to trial is something that needs to be left to independent courts, also warned that the current rhetoric of hatred presents a very real threat for societal peace in Turkey. Kasap also asserts that Prime Minister Erdoğan blaming the Hizmet movement for every new negative development that he sees as a threat to his leadership is only further damaging his own level of dignity and esteem. He said, “The threats and accusations he is making, which are based on no real information or actual documentation, are not only a problem from a legal perspective, they are serious threats and create damage, politically speaking. The result is that as the prime minister, Erdoğan's personal esteem and dignity are being sorely damaged. At the same time, we are experiencing tremendous levels of social polarization and division, and social peace is being harmed.”

Kasap also notes that the fact that no publicly known investigation has been opened by the prime minister with regard to the accusations he has made recently is a sign that he lacks the necessary information and documents to do so. The lawyer went on to note that in the meantime, serious suspicions have begun to arise that the prime minister is instead trying to create evidence using partisanship. He says: “He could turn over information and documents with regard to some of his allegations to the public prosecutors, but up until this point, there has been no announcement about any such move on his part. If some criminal documentation of a crime is created and uses some sort of partisan stance, then this is simply no longer a democratic system. Instead, it would be a system I suppose we could call a Bedouin tribal state or something. In the meantime, the unfortunate truth is that the perception has definitely arisen that he is pursuing the creation of some sort of partisan-based documents to back his accusations. It falls to the prime minister to straighten out this perception. This is a very important task, in the name of societal peace.”

The prime minister's state of mind has also been upset

Gündel also notes that it appears as though the prime minister's personal psychological state has been severely affected in the wake of the corruption investigations that came to light on Dec. 17, 2013. He said: “One needs to analyze the weighted sort of speech and rhetoric used by the prime minister during the wake of the Dec. 17 investigations in light of the general heaviness of the predominant atmosphere in the country at the time. After all, some very serious documentation of corruption and bribery found its way into the public arena. Extremely serious accusations were made by the opposition against both the government and Erdoğan. Some people don't even call him ‘prime minister' anymore; rather, they call him ‘başçalan' [head thief]. All of this, of course, has been extremely difficult for the prime minister. And so, it is under the weight of this state of mind that Erdoğan has been using this serious and harsh rhetoric.”

Recalling that Prime Minister Erdoğan had, in the run-up to Dec. 17, also made speeches in which he took on the role of the justice system, Gündel noted that if the general principle of the state of law is not to be damaged any further, normalization is an absolute must for Turkey right now.

Remarking that it is unnecessary for politicians to call prosecutors into action even when the situation is urgent, Gündel said: “If there is a clear criminal situation at hand, a prosecutor will definitely go into action without anyone having to call him or her to do so. In charging the Hizmet movement with such a wide spectrum of crimes, the prime minister is essentially trying to do the duty of a prosecutor.”

Noting also how difficult he finds it to comprehend how people who are accused of certain crimes can remind everyone of the “presumption of innocence,” while simultaneously also accusing others of crimes indiscriminately, Gündel said: “With every negative development that unfolded, every crime that came to light, the prime minister tried to tie it to the Hizmet movement. Unfortunately, any sort of ‘presumption of innocence' has been forgotten in the process. So much so that even citizens on the street have begun to develop new and very negative perceptions about the Hizmet movement. When, in fact, it must be left to the justice system to decide if there have been any crimes committed. We do know that some sort of investigation was started with the prosecutor's office, but we also know that the lack of sufficient information and documentation means that the investigation never advanced to a higher level. Prosecutors can work with certain units of the state to find suspects. But when no results are obtained through these measures, everyone is obliged to respect and observe the presumption of innocence. Also, a serious effort must be made to avoid rhetoric that enters into the category of intervention into the justice system. We still do not know who made the recording in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the one that constitutes a very serious crime. We can't be certain if there are court orders where this is concerned, nor if any suspects have been questioned. And so, before any justice has been applied here, or before any decisions have been made, it is simply not right to blame the Hizmet movement. In fact, while the Hizmet movement is being blamed, it could well be that the real perpetrators are taking advantage of this situation. The government may well be strengthening the real perpetrators' hands in all this. There should be a pause to allow the justice system to play its role.”

Gündel noted that the government and the Hizmet movement coming into conflict is a sad situation with regard to Turkey's many gains of late. He said: “This is definitely the very last thing Turkey needed right now. What we need now is for this to be fixed quickly. The real criminals need to be found, without there being a witch-hunt though, and everything must be clarified. Those who are carrying out purposeful damage must be stopped from what they are doing.”

Reminiscent of Sept. 6-7

Göktürk also commented that in the absence of any firm information or evidence, murky accusations thrown out by the prime minister are unacceptable both legally and politically. “The manner used by the prime minister is not tolerable morally, style-wise, or in terms of general decorum,” he said. Göktürk also noted that the attempt to attribute crimes to the Hizmet movement at every available opportunity is reminiscent of the events of Sept. 6-7, 1955, when state-orchestrated mobs attacked İstanbul's non-Muslim communities. “In those years, it was the Communists who were blamed for everything that went wrong. In fact, despite the fact that they were so opposed to what occurred during the Sept. 6-7 events, it was they who were blamed for the violence and looting that targeted non-Muslims. Absolutely everything was put on their shoulders, including various state conspiracies. And when the true perpetrators of the looting were set free from prison, the Communists were kept locked up. Now we see the same thing being used against the Hizmet movement. They are being declared the guilty party in a significantly partisan and heavy-handed style. All right, if they have actually committed some crime, bring forward the documentation and let them be tried in a court of law. In the absence of any court findings, of any decisions having been rendered as to their guilt, labeling them terrorists, or as some sort of gang, saying, ‘We will pursue them deep into their dens,' is unfair and disrespectful. It is a really ugly manner and style of politics,” he said.

Göktürk said that he, too, is worried that the current situation of chaos in Turkey means that the intelligence forces in this country run the very real risk of overlooking the actual perpetrators of criminal events and that the ambiguity of the present circumstances is one from which certain circles might actually benefit.

Göktürk noted: “Since Dec. 17, the accusations and allegations have come spilling out, one after another. But in the meantime, there is no official investigation of which the public is aware. No scheme, no organized group that the police have been able to find. No liars caught in the act. Not one suspect under arrest. So how can we have these seemingly made up organizations and accusations? If there is any proof, it needs to be given to the courts. An entire segment of society cannot be booed in city squares based on suspicions. The worst thing of all is to start a query, but then to have everything remain in the dark. Everyone needs to do all they can to see things brought to light. No matter how far away those responsible run, they must be found and turned over to the law. Otherwise, we will never know just what their real actions were or what they were mixed up in. Illuminating this period of time and the things that occurred is for the benefit of Turkey. The elections are over now; stances taken need to be more moderate now, and the tension must be brought to an end.”

Published on Sunday's Zaman, 06 April 2014, Sunday