Home > 1.2.3 Equality and national minorities > TÜRKIYE - Opinion on the Suspension of the Second Paragraph of Article 83 of the Constitution (Parliamentary Inviolability)
 
 
 
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Paragraph 57
 

In its Evaluation Report on Turkey of 16 October 2015, the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) concluded that “the judiciary in Turkey is not perceived to be sufficiently independent from the executive powers of the country, despite constitutional guarantees to that end. The need to strengthen its independence has been one of the main targets of judicial reform in Turkey for many years. The establishment of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HCJP) as a self-governing body of the judiciary was an element to establish such independence and a constitutional reform in 2010, providing for stronger involvement of judges and prosecutors in that body, was a positive step at the time. However, public criticism in Turkey as well as by international organisations in 2014/2015 in respect of the use of disciplinary proceedings, including the dismissal of a number of members of the judiciary, has further triggered the debate concerning the role and the independence of the HCJP. The report acknowledges that there is a continued need to enhance the independence of the HCJP by reducing the potential influence of the executive power in this body.”