ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan waded into a brewing judicial crisis on Friday, criticising the Constitutional Court for “many mistakes” and backing an unprecedented challenge to it by an appeals court, as opponents marched in Ankara.

The comments stoked a debate over the rule of law that erupted on Wednesday when the appeals Court of Cassation made a criminal complaint against judges of the Constitutional Court, which ruled last month that jailed parliamentarian Can Atalay should be released.

In a twist — which critics said highlighted the diminished state of Turkiye’s legal system — the top appeals court said the Constitutional Court’s ruling was unconstitutional. Legal experts say the next steps in resolving the unprecedented standoff between the two courts are difficult to predict.

“Unfortunately, the Constitutio­nal Court has made many mistakes in a row at this point, which seriously saddens us,” Erdogan told reporters on a flight back from Uzbekistan, according to a text published by his office on Friday.

“The Constitutional Court cannot and should not underestimate the step taken by the Court of Cassation on this matter,” he said.

Turkiye’s bar association and the main opposition party have denounced the appeals court move as an “attempted coup” and hundreds of members demonstrated, many of them lawyers in legal robes, chanting “Justice” on the capital’s streets on Friday.

They marched more than 10km from Ankara courthouse to Ahlatlibel district, where the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation are located side by side.

Joining the march in front of the Constitutional Court building, main opposition CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said that the latest judicial crisis was “an attempt by Erdogan to overhaul the constitutional order”.

“The president, who takes his power from the constitution, supports Court of Cassation’s actions ignoring the constitution. Constitutional Court rulings are binding for everybody, according to the constitution,” Ozel said, urging Erdogan to protect the constitution.

Erdogan told his ruling AK Party members to support the appeals court challenge, appearing to take aim at some in its ranks who had criticised the move.

‘Degradation of rule of law’

In comments made later at a ceremony in Ankara, Erdogan said the dispute between the two top courts showed the need for a new constitution, reflecting his longstanding position that parliament should take up the matter next year.

The latest crisis showed that Erdogan wants “more control over what happens in Turkiye, including a judicial system that does what he wants, such as prosecuting and imprisoning his critics and opponents,” according to Gareth Jenkins, a political analyst based in Istanbul.

“His preference is to do things according to the constitution. That is why he has amended the current constitution in 2010 and 2017 and is now talking about a completely new one,” he said.

Atalay, 47, was sentenced to 18 years in prison last year after being convicted of trying to overthrow the government by organising nationwide protests in 2013, along with Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala and six others.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2023