CHP hits AKP on its Achilles' heel

"We are all thirsty for justice," main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said on Aug. 26 in his welcoming speech at the "Justice Congress" in the western Turkish province of Çanakkale. "We want it for all 80 million people in the country; we all want to live in peace."

Çanakkale is home to the ancient site of Troy, where legendary hero Achilles was fatally wounded in the Trojan War, and the CHP leader is certainly trying to hit President Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) in what he believes is its Achilles' heel: Complaints about the justice system.

The four-day convention is a follow up of the "Justice March" that Kılıçdaroğlu led between June 15 and July 9 from the capital Ankara to Istanbul, after CHP MP Enis Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years in jail on June 14. Like the march, no CHP flags, banners or slogans have been allowed at the Justice Congress. "Our call is to everyone who needs justice in Turkey," Kılıçdaroğlu said. 

The problems with Turkish courts did not suddenly emerge after the AK Parti government's declaration of the state of emergency on July 20, 2016, shortly after the defeated military coup attempt. For example, wrongdoings in the courts during alleged anti-government conspiracy cases like Ergenekon and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) from 2008 to 2012 are now subject to counter probes now. What's more, most of the prosecutors and judges who took part in those cases are now either in jail or on the run because of their alleged involvement with the illegal network of Fethullah Gülen, the U.S.-resident Islamist preacher who is accused of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt. 

It is also worth remembering that in 2008 an attempt by the Chief Prosecutor's...