Turkish court starts probe on prosecutors over PKK surrenders

Turkey's Supreme Court's Chief Public Prosecutor announced earlier Wednesday that "it launched a criminal investigation into alleged misconduct of Erzincan and Erzurum prosecutors and the prosecutors who took testimonies of the PKK members who surrendered at the Habur gate."

34 members of PKK from Makhmour refugee camp and Qandil Mountain surrendered to Turkish authorities at Habur border gate within government's Kurdish opening.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's office said, "these investigations harmed the judiciary and damaged people's trust in justice, implying that judges, prosecutors and other officials who carried out these probes might have been influenced by the political administration."

"In order to determine whether the judiciary is influenced by political powers, whether legal rules protecting the individual against the state are enforced, and in order to protect the rule of law and democracy", the Supreme Court Chief Public Prosecutor's office decided to launch an investigation of the probes and legal proceedings in Habur, Erzincan, and Erzurum.

Meanwhile, the main Opposition Republican People's Party submitted a censure motion on the legal proceedings in Habur against the interior minister.

It argued that "he affected the judicial process for members of the terrorist organization, mobilized state facilities to ensure a special trial order, violated laws not to arrest members of the terrorist organization, made bargaining that guided the judiciary, and carried out secret negotiations."

The Ministry of Interior was assigned with the coordination of Kurdish opening.

However, the Interior Ministry had denied the claims in a statement that read: “The Turkish Republic is a state governed by the rule of law. All legal procedures vis-à-vis the returning group were carried out by independent judicial bodies in accordance with their authority. No interference came from our ministry.”

Erdogan's government hopes broadening Kurdish rights will help end the conflict with the outlawed PKK. More than 40,000 people have died since the PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.

/World Bulletin/