Coup attempt shakes up Turkish judiciary with big shift, detentions reported

ANKARA / ISTANBUL





The HSYK’s 2nd chamber ruled for the suspension of 541 members of first level administrative judiciary and 2,204 members of the first level judiciary on July 16, on suspicion of links to the U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.



The government has stated that Gülenists were behind the failed coup attempt.



Meanwhile, the general assembly of the HSYK has decided to end the membership of five of its 22 judges facing detention demands by the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office, while it has cut short the vacations of some judges and prosecutors.



Two members of the Constitutional Court, Alparslan Altan and Erdal Tercan, were detained.



A total of 48 members of the Council of State, who were sought with an arrest warrant, were detained in relation to the coup attempt, while 10 other Council of State members were reportedly detained later.



Arrest warrants were issued for 140 members of the Supreme Court of Appeals and 11 of them have been detained.



Meanwhile, the Bakırköy Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul ordered the detention, in line with the HSYK’S demand, of some 140 judges and prosecutors on duty at the Bakırköy, Küçükçekmece and district administrative courts early on July 17. The suspects are charged with “being members of an armed terrorist organization” and “trying to overthrow the Turkish government.”



An additional detention warrant was also issued on July 17 for 110 judges and prosecutors working at Istanbul’s Anadolu courthouse.



The detention of 2,745 judicial and administrative judges and prosecutors was ordered after they were suspended from duty by the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), hours after a failed coup attempt. Some 426 have reportedly been detained so far.