An exemplary verdict by the top court

The Constitutional Court has served government a lesson in law, as well as in justice by ordering “Sledgehammer” retrial. After “democracy to my liking” the ruling political Islamists of Turkey wanted to have “justice to my liking” by overhauling the entire judicial apparatus of the country, changing the structure of the high courts, making the justice minister the lord of all judges and prosecutors. It ain’t working any longer.

The chubby ruling party spokesman might come up and say “all these Constitutional Court verdicts became possible because of the right to individual appeal to high court we provided in the 2010 constitutional amendment.” Perfectly right, that was one of the rather few sugary elements coating all the poisonous content of the package so the nation could swallow it without noticing the venomous content. The result of yet another of those sugary coating articles was the one allowing the trial of former coup leaders. With that article in force, we achieved this week a landmark success: Former president, top commander and 1980 coup leader Kenan Evren was sentenced to life behind bars. He is 93. He can no longer walk without assistance and is suffering from some serious conditions brought on by his advanced age. Yet, he was sentenced to life. What a consolation to the victims of the 1980 coup!
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has made great contributions to this country. It is wrong to say it has been wrong all the way along. Particularly in its first term, up until 2005, it was indeed a government tearing down old taboos, lifting martial law, engaging in reforms previous governments would not even see in their dreams. But even in its first term, the AKP was an oppressive...