Turkish Daily News

Editorial by Ilnur Cevik, 

TURKEY: Constitutional amendments, the civil code, DGM reforms and scrapping of the death penalty are major achievements.

Turk has performed miracles

We had high hopes vested in Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk whom we have been monitoring since he became a star as the minister in charge of human rights in previous governments.

 Until he came to office, many ministers from Oltan Sungurlu onwards, had tried to reform the judicial system and introduce innovative laws, but they failed miserably.

 Turk, as minister in charge of human rights, saw the flaws in the system very closely as a professor of law, and started preparing the groundwork for reforms. He built a good infrastructure, drafting a series of laws on how to improve the human rights situation, how the revamp the judicial system and make substantial changes in various basic laws, ranging from the Constitution to the penal code.

 Turk opened dialogue with various pressure groups in Turkey. He identified the problem areas and his efforts were applauded not only by the democrats in Turkey but also by the international community.

 So when he became Justice Minister we rejoiced. Yes, we did have our fears because this is a system which can finish off people overnight. As a matter of fact, the circles who do not want reformation in Turkey did their best to stall Turk, and all he has done up to now has been under the shadow of such an atmosphere.

 Some people may say Turk should have done much more, but when you consider the odds he has faced, and the conservative establishment that he had to cope with, you will see that what has been achieved is remarkable.

 The minister has moved to revamp the justice system, which is falling apart. He still has a long way to go in this fight, but even the fact that he has managed in steps to change the face of the State Security Courts (DGMs) is quite an achievement. He first managed to end the presence of a military judge in the courts. Now with a new law he is moving to curb the jurisdiction of the court to really look into state security and not into all cases involving gangs of various types.

 There are too many laws that are medals for Turk, but his role in the drafting of the new constitutional amendments which have relatively improved the quality of our democracy and enhanced our rights and freedoms should win him a medal. It is not what he has achieved but under what conditions he has managed to achieve these improvements that should be properly assessed.

 Besides this, Turkey's new civil code, which is about to clear Parliament, is also a major achievement that will enter our history books in gold letters. The all out fight Turk had to put up to legislate this law should earn him the man of the year title at home at the end of the year.

 If people do not stall him and give him a free hand there are many more things Turk will do. Yes, we are going through a very bad phase but we do also remember that there are some very positive things which have to be raised and applauded.

 PS. We are known as champions of democracy and we have earned this through hard work. We are sure there will be those who will accuse us of shutting our eyes to the prison conditions in Turkey and praising the minister. Our reply is simple: The minister has done his best to stop terrorists organizations using the prisons as their training camps. Now we expect the minister to be given a free hand to properly improve the prison system in Turkey and introduce a system where we can reform criminals instead of providing temporary lodgings for them in our jails.