ANKARA
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan has slammed judges who recently attempted to release several suspects, including a media figure involved in a "parallel state" case through a controversial court decision.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of an election liaison office of the Justice and Development, or AK Party in the capital Ankara Tuesday, Akdogan termed the judges' ultra vires act a sabotage attempt ahead of June elections in Turkey and an "open bid to challenge the state, democracy and law."
"A jurist is not a suicide agitator, nobody can serve the law by spoiling it," he said.
He emphasized that the recent incident was not only an "obvious sabotage" act, but an attack against the law of the land ahead of Turkey's upcoming June parliamentary polls.
Akdogan also compared the parallel state to "a chameleon that constantly changed colors."
"The parallel structure's tail keeps growing back just like a lizard's," he said.
"The head of the lizard must be cut off to stamp the parallel state out, and the ‘mind’ that seeks to stir up trouble in the country and sent them [the judges] for a suicide act as human bombs must be brought to book," he added.
He said that the Turkish government's fight against the parallel state was a matter of national security since it was serious and a major threat to the country.
He also highlighted the need to pursue the fight against a "mentality that favors tutelage and coups."
On Monday, Turkey's Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors, or the HSYK, suspended Metin Ozcelik, judge of the Istanbul 29nd Penal Court of First Instance and Mustafa Baser, judge of the Istanbul 32nd Penal Court of First Instance, due to their contraversial decisions of releasing the parallel state case suspects.
Another judge, Habil Kahraman, was suspended for releasing three policemen accused in a separate “illegal wiretapping” case related to the parallel state probe.
Also Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the judicial action that attempted to release the suspects. “This is a direction from Pennsylvania," Erdogan said, referring to the U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
On Saturday, the Istanbul 32nd Penal Court of First Instance's Judge Baser attempted to release Samanyolu Media Group chairman Hidayet Karaca and 75 others, including some police chiefs, in the parellel state case.
Following the decision, Istanbul's 10th Penal Court of Peace declared the decision null and void.
On Dec. 14, 2014, a police operation was launched against senior media figures and police officers in 13 provinces across Turkey for allegedly being affiliated with what the government describes as the parallel state.
The Turkish government has long held that an alleged parallel state of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials are embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police, and plotting to undermine it.
The parallel state refers to Gulen and his so-called Gulen movement, which has been under intense scrutiny in Turkey.
