{"id":10984,"date":"2026-02-12T18:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/10984\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T18:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:56:10","slug":"erdogan-appoints-controversial-prosecutor-as-justice-minister-sparking-opposition-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/10984\/","title":{"rendered":"Erdo\u011fan appoints controversial prosecutor as justice minister, sparking opposition backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan on Wednesday appointed \u0130stanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Ak\u0131n G\u00fcrlek as justice minister, sparking strong criticism from the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP).<\/p>\n

G\u00fcrlek, 44, has overseen investigations targeting opposition politicians, primarily figures from the CHP since taking office in October 2024. The party accuses him of leading a politically motivated judicial crackdown, pointing to prosecutions of its senior officials, most notably \u0130stanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu.<\/p>\n

Tensions erupted in parliament during G\u00fcrlek\u2019s swearing-in, with lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and opposition parties confronting each other on the chamber floor.<\/p>\n

For the CHP, G\u00fcrlek\u2019s appointment confirms what it describes as the political nature of the investigations and the seizure of some of its municipalities through trustee appointments following its sweeping 2024 local election victory.<\/p>\n

The pressure on the CHP and its municipalities has intensified since the arrest of \u0130stanbul Mayor \u0130mamo\u011flu, a senior member of the CHP considered to be the strongest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan. He was named his party\u2019s presidential candidate in March for the next general election scheduled for 2028. \u0130mamo\u011flu is accused of running what prosecutors call a \u201ccriminal organization\u201d within the municipality. He has\u00a0denied<\/a>\u00a0the accusations and says they are politically motivated.<\/p>\n

G\u00fcrlek\u2019s appointment comes as Turkey moves toward the 2028 presidential election, fueling speculation that pressure on the opposition may intensify further.<\/p>\n

As justice minister, G\u00fcrlek will chair the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), the body responsible for judicial appointments and disciplinary proceedings. Notably, the CHP filed<\/a> a complaint against him with the HSK on December 17, 2025.<\/p>\n

Several politicians including CHP leader \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel<\/a> and \u0130mamo\u011flu, journalists<\/a>, and lawyers<\/a> who have criticized the prosecutor\u2019s conduct in the past have faced investigations.<\/p>\n

CHP Deputy Chairperson G\u00fcl \u00c7iftci described G\u00fcrlek\u2019s appointment as \u201ca reward\u201d for the operations carried out against the party, while senior CHP lawmaker Murat Emir said it was intended to shield him from accountability.<\/p>\n

Before the recent investigations involving the CHP, G\u00fcrlek has been associated with several politically sensitive cases. As a senior judge, he presided over the trial in which jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirta\u015f was sentenced to more than four years in prison on a propaganda charge, resulting in a political ban.<\/p>\n

He also chaired the court that sentenced former CHP \u0130stanbul chair Canan Kaftanc\u0131o\u011flu over social media posts, barring her from political office.<\/p>\n

G\u00fcrlek was among the judges who delivered verdicts in the long-running trial over the 2007 murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink.<\/p>\n

In another controversial case, a court he headed declined to implement a Constitutional Court ruling in favor of opposition lawmaker Enis Berbero\u011flu, a move that sparked debate over judicial independence and compliance with top court decisions.<\/p>\n

He also presided over trials involving lawyers, academics and journalists, including cases against members of the Progressive Lawyers Association and signatories of the \u201cAcademics for Peace\u201d petition.<\/p>\n

(Stockholm Center for Freedom with reporting by Turkish Minute)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan on Wednesday appointed \u0130stanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Ak\u0131n G\u00fcrlek as justice minister, sparking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[8581,8629,2031,8630,1181,8631,8632,314,430,131,132,155],"class_list":{"0":"post-10984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-akin-gurlek","9":"tag-council-of-judges-and-prosecutors-hsk","10":"tag-crackdown-on-opposition","11":"tag-gul-ciftci","12":"tag-istanbul-mayor-ekrem-imamoglu","13":"tag-murat-emir","14":"tag-ozgur-ozel","15":"tag-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan","16":"tag-republican-peoples-party-chp","17":"tag-stockholm","18":"tag-sweden","19":"tag-turkey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}