As Turkey's top judge bows before the president

Only a handful of people in judicial circles and the media criticized Constitutional Court head Zühtü Arslan for bowing before President Tayyip Erdoğan out of respect during Turkey's Victory Day celebrations on Aug. 30.

Judges Union head Mustafa Karadağ said such a move was "not appropriate" for the top judge, "even out of politeness." Ankara Bar Association head Hakan Canduran said the picture is simply more "evidence that the courts are not independent."

On the same day, however, Council of State head Zerrin Güngör criticized the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) over its recent "Justice Congress," which it held from Aug. 26-29 to "draw attention to injustice." "The CHP is disappointed," Güngör told a reporter. "It used to get help from the judiciary because of its political weakness. But now the judiciary has never been more independent than it is today."

 "If she wants to get involved in political affairs," said CHP deputy Levent Gök in response, "she should take her judges' robe off and enter politics. This is the mentality we object to. You cannot judge court cases when you bow before political power." 

Coincidentally, on the same day the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) approved an application by Council of Europe (CoE) Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muiznieks to become an intervening party in the court cases of Turkish journalists and writers who have been waiting for their trial for around a year.

Muizniek's application to the ECHR was based on his earlier February 2017 report on Turkey, in which he said the judicial system was manipulated by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) through the newly founded "criminal courts of peace." In his 25-page report, the commissioner also...