ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s parliament approved a law boosting government control over the appointment of judges and prosecutors yesterday, after a heated debate and a brawl that left one opposition lawmaker hospitalised.
Dozens of MPs broke into fights during the tense 20-hour debate and insults flew across party lines. When an opposition deputy called Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan a dictator, deputies from the leader’s party shouted back “are you drunk?”
The battle for control of the Higher Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), which appoints senior members of the judiciary, lies at the heart of a feud between Erdogan and influential US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Gulen, whose followers say they number in the millions, is believed to have built up influence in the police and judiciary over decades and leads a powerful worldwide Islamic movement from a forested compound in the United States.
Erdogan, head of the ruling AK Party, blames him for unleashing a corruption investigation he sees as an attempted “judicial coup” designed to undermine him in the run-up to local and presidential elections this year.
utors’ documents.
The HSYK debate lasted from 1400 (1200 GMT) on Friday and finished at 1000 on Saturday, with 210 members voting in support of the bill and 28 voting against. Many MPs slept through parts of the debate.
CHP had said on Thursday it would appeal the bill in the Constitutional Court if it was approved in parliament.
“If you accept this law, soon you will be repealing the constitution,” CHP MP Akif Hamzacebi said during the debate.
“This cover-up of the allegations of corruption and bribery today has dealt a big blow to democracy and freedom.”
The Erdogan-Gulen power struggle has highlighted fractures in the religiously conservative support base underpinning Erdogan’s decade in power.
The feud has shaken markets, helping drive the lira to new lows, and prompted expressions of alarm from Washington and Brussels about threats to the credibility of the legal system.
