Pending Challenges in Turkey's Judiciary

This paper deals with the status of the judiciary in Turkey, specifically the composition and powers of the Constitutional Court and of the High Council Judges and Public Prosecutors (HSYK) and the measures pursued by the AKP government in changing these since the December 2013 crisis. It argues that the AKP government's establishment of its control over the judiciary will certainly lead to a wider use of a selective application of the law. Turkey now stands on the borderline between illiberal (or electoral) democracies and "competitive authoritarian" regimes. If the AKP obtains a constitutional amendment majority in the forthcoming general parliamentary elections, it will certainly attempt to change the system of government to a super-presidential one and to restructure the Constitutional Court.

Paper produced within the framework of the project Turkey, Europe and the World.