Letter of the Swiss Association of Judges on the situation in Turkey

The Swiss Association of judges sent a letter to the Swiss members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) concerning the situation of the judiciary in Turkey. The President of the EAJ Mr Christophe Régnard and the Swiss Association of Judges invite all European Associations to make a similar step with their respective members of the Parliamentary Assembly, i.e. to write a corresponding letter.

The text of the letter (in German) is available here:

https://www.iaj-uim.org/iuw/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/letter_on_Turkey_Swiss_Association.pdf

The English translation of the letter reads as follows:

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“Honorable Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) …

The Swiss Association of Judges (SVR-ASM) aims in particular at the preservation and fostering of the constitutional and personal independence of the judiciary, the development of legislation and jurisdiction and the rule of law. The Swiss Association of Judges, as a member of the European and International association of judges, stands for these issues also on an international level.

In recent years a particular focus was put on the Turkish Judiciary the independence of which was more and more infringed upon. Judges and prosecutors are put under pressure in a way that they can no longer prosecute and make judgements independently according to law and constitution, but are subjectd more and more to directives of the majority party- government and the president of state, Recep Tayyib Erdogan. In a first step the number of judges and prosecutors was substantially increased and candidates who stood in close relation to government were appointed to the new created positions. In a second step government sought to influence the election of the High Judicial Council so that this body was and is now  – in its majority – composed by members who support the judicial policy of government. Moreover thousands of prosecutors and judges were moved, without their consent, to other courts and prosecutor offices, sometimes more than once a year – thus contradicting all international standards on judicial independence. Judges and prosecutors were put under pressure so that ongoing prosecutions were obstructed and finally discontinued. The next step is now to release a new law which would decrease the number of prosecutors and judges dramatically. The obvious aim is to displace people who have a critical attitude towards government policy from important positions or from any position in the judiciary at all.

Several times Turkish authorities were informed by the European Association of Judges, by organs of the Council of Europe, such as the Venice Commission, and the European Union that the policy of the Turkish Government does not observe yet even violates openly judicial independence and the principle of separation of powers. Moreover Turkish authorities were asked to recall the measures which were initiated in the way described above – to no avail. The latest development shows that the situation in Turkish judiciary is even getting from bad to worse

We therefore would like to invite you to deal with this pressing issue in the frame of the parliamentary assembly and to take measures to help Turkey to keep up again entirely the rule of law, basing on separation of powers and judicial independence. The Council of Europe and Switzerland as such, cannot afford to have one of the members of the CoE breaking up with a democratic state ruled by law, giving up the principle of separation of powers and judicial independence.

                             Roy Garé                                                                 Thomas Stadelmann

President of the Swiss Association of Judges                Member of the Board of the Swiss

Association of Judges