Gul calls for sweering judicial reforms

Turkey needs to agree on and implement radical changes to its judiciary and courts, said President Abdullah Gul yesterday. Speaking to reporters shortly before leaving for an official trip to Yemen, Gul weighed in on the judicial backlog, which recently resulted in the release of 10 Hizbullah members convicted of the brutal torture and killing of 188 people. The convicts, who had still been in the midst of appeals after 10 years, were released under a new law limiting how long a person can be kept in prison during the trial process. Their release triggered widespread public anger. Radical reform is the only answer to this and other current problems in the judiciary, Gul told reporters. Everyone in Turkey agrees on the need for reforms, he said, including speedier trial processes, meeting the needs of judges and prosecutors, and modernizing the judiciary. He said dragged-out trials and the lack of judicial reform have resulted in mistakes and injustice. There are more people in Turkish prisons awaiting trial than there are actual convicts, he added, calling this unworthy of Turkey.