Veysel Ok, Co-Director of the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), stated, "In a country where Constitutional Court decisions are not implemented, no one can talk about legal security."
Appearing on İlke TV's "Seçim Zamanı" (Election Time) program hosted by Dilek Odabaş, Veysel Ok discussed the case of deputy Can Atalay, whose parliamentary membership was revoked by the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) despite the Constitutional Court ruling twice in his favor for violation of rights. Ok pointed out a procedural error during the parliamentary session led by Deputy Speaker Bekir Bozdağ, saying, "Bozdağ read the wrong verdict. He read the Court of Cassation's decision, which essentially says 'I do not recognize the Constitutional Court.' The verdict that should have been read was from the Istanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court. Technically, after reading that verdict, Can Atalay's membership would cease. Since the wrong decision was read, technically and legally, Can Atalay is still a deputy."
Ok argued that the verdict of the 13th Heavy Penal Court was effectively annulled due to the Constitutional Court's violation and retrial decision, stating:
"There is no finalized judicial decision. Atalay's membership would cease with the reading of a finalized judicial decision in Parliament. However, due to the Constitutional Court's violation ruling and the order for a retrial, the decision of the Istanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court is no longer finalized, so they made a procedural mistake on two fronts. Therefore, this was a legally ineffective action. Currently, maybe they forced his membership to be dropped from the Parliament's website and might stop his salary, but legally, Can Atalay is still a deputy for two reasons. First, there is no finalized court decision because the Constitutional Court overturned it and ordered a retrial. Secondly, this is a tragicomic situation where Bekir Bozdağ read the wrong decision. I don’t think this mistake was a deliberate choice; I believe it was due to a lack of legal knowledge.
We were aware that the Republic of Turkey ceased to be a constitutional state, but now it has become a country run by incompetent people even making procedural errors. Perhaps there is no social opposition now, and legal avenues seem blocked, but in the future, Turkey will undoubtedly receive violation rulings from both its own Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Thus, this show in Parliament has no legal standing.
The case of Can Atalay is not the only instance of non-implementation of high court decisions. Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş also received violation rulings from the European Court of Human Rights. The court ordered their immediate release, but this was not implemented. According to our constitution, the European Court of Human Rights' decisions are the highest judicial authority, even above the Constitutional Court. This is not the first time. Now everyone says it's the first time, but it's not. Turkey could face sanctions any moment for not implementing these decisions. We are now faced with a state that does not comply with its own Constitutional Court's decisions. What will happen next? That’s the goal – to have no controlling mechanisms. The individual application system introduced before the 2010 referendum by the AKP government was a good thing, but then the regime changed, and even the current state of the Constitutional Court is a hindrance to this regime, which is actually a system where one person is the decision-maker, mislabeled as the Presidential system.
This matter is not just about Can, Selahattin Demirtaş, or Osman Kavala; it concerns the legal security of 85 million citizens of the Republic of Turkey. In a regime, in a country where the decisions of the Constitutional Court are not implemented, no one actually has legal security. That’s how we need to view this issue."
