Handwritten lists reveal early plan for Erdoğan's judicial takeover
Court documents show that senior Justice Ministry officials mapped judges and organized a bloc to seize control of Turkey's high courts as early as 2013, months before the 2013 corruption probes.
Documents submitted to Turkey's top appeals court expose a 2013 operation led by former Justice Ministry Undersecretary Birol Erdem to catalogue judges suspected of Gülen ties and to assemble voting blocs for upcoming judicial elections. Handwritten rosters list 103 Supreme Court of Appeals members divided into numbered teams, with symbols indicating removals or transfers. Erdem instructed personnel deputy Abdullah Şahin to compile the lists, which were then shared with one outlet Intelligence Organization chief Hakan Fidan, ministers and senior lawmakers.
The plan laid the groundwork for the Unity in the Judiciary Platform that secured eight of ten HSYK seats in October 2014. The court concluded that these preparations pre-dated the December 2013 corruption scandal and facilitated the later purge of thousands of judges and prosecutors following the 2016 coup attempt.
Why it matters
The files show the Turkish government orchestrated a systematic purge of the judiciary years before public scandals, highlighting deep executive control over courts.
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