Ministry of Justice

The government is willing to bring the remains of the legendary poet Nazım Hikmet back to Turkey, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said on Jan. 16.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the founding father of modern Turkey, its first president and the chair of the Republican People's Party (CHP). Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ argued that a president affiliated to a political party would actually be a return to Atatürk's constitutions.

Despite the prediction by Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ that the government bloc will have no difficulty in taking to a referendum on constitutional amendments for a shift to an executive presidential model, unexpected speculations have started between and within the parties at Turkey's parliament, which could change the format of the changes.

Turkey's parliament has approved the first two items of an 18-article constitutional amendment package to shift the current parliamentary system to an executive presidency by respective votes of 343 and 347 amid serious opposition criticism over government MPs' violations of the requirement to vote secretly. 

18 people have been arrested for the bomb attack in the city of Izmir on Thursday.

The authorities are convinced that this is the work of the terrorist organisation Kurdistan Workers' Party, stated the Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ, cited by Reuters.

One policeman and one justice worker were killed, while 7 people - three policemen and 4 civilians were injured.

There is "no doubt" concerning the identity organization that carried out a deadly attack on an İzmir courthouse on Jan. 5, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has said, noting that all the obtained information indicated that both the masterminds and the perpetrators of the attack were militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

It is not possible to determine the number of journalists currently under arrest in Turkey, Turkey's Justice Ministry has stated in response to a lawmaker's written questionnaire.

The government has withdrawn its highly controversial proposal which amounted to giving amnesty to the statutory rapists of minors after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan intervened to quash it. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ says the topic is closed and clearly wants the heated discussions it generated to end. 

A parliamentary commission abolished a contentious motion regarding the sex abuse of minors on Nov. 23 following strong reaction from opposition parties and many non-governmental organizations. 
Speaking at a commission meeting on Nov. 23, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said a specific clause in the 48-item regulation did not include amnesty to "even a single rapist."

The Turkish government abolished a controversial motion on the sexual abuse of minors on Nov. 23, a day after Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım announced the withdrawal of the bill.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ made a short speech on the bill ahead of a Justice Commission meeting in parliament, stating that the government had failed to explain the context of the motion.