Top Turkish court overstepped limit with journalists' ruling: deputy PM

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 12 January 2018

Deputy PM Bekir Bozdag criticized the Constitutional Court for overstepping its limits in the case of two jailed journalists. Despite the court's ruling for their release, they remain in detention.

Summary

ISTANBUL - Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Friday the Constitutional Court had overstepped its limit, set out in the law, with its ruling to release two journalists on the grounds that their rights had been violated while in custody.

The court on Thursday ruled in favor of releasing the two journalists, jailed for more than a year over the July 2016 attempted coup, but hours later penal courts decided to keep them in detention, state media said.

“When ruling on individual applications, the Constitutional Court...cannot act like a super appeals court and cannot make rulings like such courts,” Bozdag wrote on Twitter.

“The Constitutional Court has overstepped the limit set out in the constitution and the laws,” he said.

Journalists Mehmet Altan and Sahin Alpay were accused of links to terrorist groups and attempting to overthrow the government and were among more than 50,000 people remanded in custody after the failed putsch. They deny the charges.

In a wide-ranging crackdown since the coup, Turkish authorities have shut down about 130 media outlets. The Turkish Journalists’ Association says about 160 journalists are in jail. - Reuters

KEY POINTS:

• Constitutional Court ruled in favor of releasing journalists
• Deputy PM argues court overstepped legal limits
• Journalists accused of ties to terrorist groups
• Turkey's media crackdown includes 130 shut down outlets
• Approximately 160 journalists currently imprisoned