Mortal Combat turns into Constitutional Crisis

TURKEY - In Brief 27 Dec 2013 by Atilla Yesilada

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First let me wish our readers a Merry Christmas. Alas, Christmas was not merry for Turkey, with PM Erdogan being forced into a drastic cabinet revision, while departures from the party continued (5 so far). As I had feared, allegations of graft reached PM’s son Mr. Bilal Erdogan. This is the good news. The bad news is that the Mortal Combat between AKP and Gulen Church is stoking a constitutional crisis, while repercussions are spreading to diplomacy and the economy. Talk of early elections is in the air, though I don't see how that would help. One of the outgoing ministers, Environment and Urban Development Minister Mr. Erdogan Bayraktar, who happens to be the in-law of PM Erdogan, resigned from the party, as well, insinuating that one of the main charges-- that of improper amendments to zoning regulations to curry favor to pro-AKP real estate developers-- have been initiated with Erdogan’s approval. The new cabinet has 10 new names, while all four ministers implicated in the corruption allegations are sidelined. Erdogan brought in his former security advisor Efgan Ala as Interior Minister and close confidant Mr. Bekir Bozdag as Justice Minister, signaling that he is going to crack down hard on pro-Gulen civil servants and the church itself. The cabinet revisions didn’t end his woes. On Thursday, a DA in Istanbul, Mr Akkas, went public with accusations that his orders to police to detain “32 influential” names, including Bilal Erdogan and the who-is-who of the construction community was disobeyed. He was removed from the case by Chief Prosecutor of Istanbul, whose actions were found unlawful by the supreme judiciary authority, High Board of Prosecutors and Judges (HBP...