TURKEY: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT PRESIDENT ON COURT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000873 SIPDIS DEPT. FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2029 TAGS: OSCE PGOV PINR TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT PRESIDENT ON COURT REFORMS Classified By: Ambassador James Jeffrey, for reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Ambassador on June 19 emphasized to the President of Turkey's Constitutional Court, Hasim Kilic our view of the Court's importance for the deepening of democracy and freedoms in Turkey. They discussed the workings of the Court, proposed reforms to Turkey's judicial system, and the Court's relationship with the European Court of Human Rights. End Summary. ¶2. (C) The Ambassador paid a courtesy call on Hasim Kilic, the President of the Constitutional Court, at the Constitutional Court building, a large, shiny new facility in a new suburb on the edge of Ankara. The Ambassador expressed the value the US places on the Constitutional Court's role in deepening Turkey's democracy and freedoms. He pointed out that the US dislikes commenting openly on countries' internal affairs, particularly in legal matters, but expressed his view that the Court has been doing a fine job in navigating very tricky cases, particularly the case to close the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The Ambassador also encouraged Kilic to engage closely with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as part of the process of applying European Union standards to Turkey's judicial system. ¶3. (C) Kilic expressed his appreciation for US support in Turkey's EU application process and for support for Turkish democracy and freedoms in general. He informed the Ambassador that the Court had met with officials from the ECHR in 2008 and was planning to continue to meet with them on a yearly basis. Kilic said that the information gleaned from their meetings would be shared with the government and the opposition parties in the form of technical reports submitted to Parliament. He mentioned that he had held discussions with the Speaker of Parliament concerning proposed restructuring of the Constitutional Court. The Court does not yet have an opinion on the restructuring, he said, but he expects the Court will produce a commentary on the proposed changes once they are presented as a bill to Parliament. Kilic told us that he had emphasized to the Speaker that all parties should be involved in the process of reforming a body so important as the Constitutional Court. ¶4. (C) Comment and Biographical Note: Although Kilic has been unfriendly and harshly critical of the US in past meetings, he was warm and jovial in this one. Kilic is one of only two members of the Court to have been appointed by former President Turgut Ozal. The two Ozal members are the "liberal" wing of the Court, emphasizing individual freedoms and rights over the defense of the State. His statements to the Ambassador, therefore, may not be shared by the entirety of the Court. Kilic is also a devoutly religious man whose wife wears a headscarf. His piety has made him the target of criticism by Kemalists and secularists who believe he acts in the interests of the AKP government. He was born in 1950 in Cicekdagi, a largely Alevi town in Kirsehir province. He attended grade school and high school in Yozgat, and then graduated from the Eskisehir Economic and Commercial Sciences Academy in 1972. In 1974, he became a judge with the Court of Accounts. He was appointed to the Constitutional Court in ¶1990. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey JEFFREY