The high court vs. low politics

When Turkey's Constitutional Court made a landmark decision last week to free two imprisoned journalists, everything first looked fine. The two scribes in question, Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, had been in jail for 92 days for a news story they ran months ago exposing that the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (M?T) was shipping weapons to some groups in Syria. President Erdo?an and his supporters had condemned this story as "espionage" and "treason," and a like-minded court had agreed. But now, the highest court in the country has declared that the issue was not "espionage" but "freedom of the press."

Interestingly, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) did not initially oppose this Constitutional Court decision. In fact, an AKP spokesman hailed it as "good news" which they received it "happily." There was a moment as if rule of law worked in Turkey and everybody was happy about it.

But this moment did not last long. Two days after the Constitutional Court decision, President Erdo?an spoke about it. He insisted that what Dündar and Gül did was "espionage," and the high court ruling was wrong. "I do not respect this decision," he said, adding, "I do not abide by it." 

This was a signal for the pro-Erdo?an propaganda machine to sharpen its blades. The next day, pro-Erdo?an newspapers (whose number have exceeded a dozen by now, and is only likely to increase in the future) came out with furious headlines. The Constitutional Court was the headquarters of the new "coup." It was a hub of "parallel" spies, and an illegitimate "tutelage" over the nation. Some Erdo?an apparatchiks also showed the way: In the new constitution that Turkey should have, the Constitutional Court must be abolished. The "national will" must be unbounded.