The saddening state of Turkish courts

İsmail Rüştü Cirit is a senior judge chairing Turkey's High Court of Appeals (Yargıtay). Speaking at a ceremony in Ankara on Sep 5, Cirit said the following: "The dismissal of judges and prosecutors who are members of terrorist organizations is a big achievement, but the fact that about a third of judges and prosecutors were involved in terrorist activities has made people lose confidence in the judicial system."

Cirit was referring to the mass dismissals following the July 15, 2016 military coup attempt, thought to have been masterminded by the illegal network of U.S.-resident Islamist preacher Fethullah Gülen. But the most important part of the remarks was in his last six words: "People have lost confidence in the judicial system." He also said "the independence and impartiality of a legal system cannot be maintained without that confidence."

These remarks contradicted somewhat with the remarks of Council of State (Danıştay) head Zerrin Güngör on Aug. 30, in which she claimed that the Turkish judicial system has "never been more independent." She was reacting to the "Justice Conference" organized by the CHP on Aug. 26-29, which had aimed to "draw attention to injustice in all fields," not only in the courts.

Cirit's words actually confirmed a recent survey commissioned by President Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti), which reportedly showed (and was not denied) that three-quarters of Turkish citizens have "no confidence" in the judicial system. 

However, Cirit declined to read part of the speech printed in the booklet given to hosts, including Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, at the ceremony for the opening of the 2017-18 judicial year in Turkey. He omitted the section of the speech in which he had...