The law’s delays, the insolence of office

Dozens of former bankers are on trial in Turkey for allegedly stealing $17 billion from the 20 banks that have been seized by the government since the end of the 1990s. None of the trials has ended, while some of the cases have entered their third year. If Murat Demirel’s case is typical, it seems they might go on for ever.

Demirel, a scion of one of Turkey’s most powerful political families, was arrested soon after Egebank, a small bank he owned, was seized in December 1999. The 34-year-old businessman is the nephew of Suleyman Demirel, who has served Turkey seven times as prime minister and once as president.

After the seizure Murat Demirel was promptly arrested and spent almost two years in custody, while he was yanked from city to city and jail to jail until he could find a court competent to try his case. At last he found himself before the Second Severe Punishment Court in Istanbul and a few days short of the second anniversary of his incarceration was released from prison. Having decided it was competent to judge whether Demirel and about 40 other Egebank employees charged with him had stripped the bank of $1.2 billion, the court met for an hour or so before it adjourned for nearly two months. When it reconvened it met for two more hours and adjourned for another two months until December.

Unlike, for example, English courts, which sit until a case is settled, Turkish courts take a salami-slicing approach. On October 10 when Demirel – a neat, tall, prematurely balding man – appeared before the three-judge tribunal, the court had 19 cases before it. According to the posted schedule it was supposed to handle all 19 between 09.30 and 10.30. The judges spent about two hours on Demirel’s case – an unusually long time for a Turkish court – before adjourning it for two months.

Demirel’s case will not be easy to resolve. Thirty-six others are charged alongside him. The convoluted procedures allow the defence to keep the trial going for years. Justice, if it can be obtained, comes so late that it becomes irrelevant. Some cases drag on for so long that the statute of limitations comes into effect and the cases have to be dropped.

“The slowness of the justice system has corroded people’s trust in the legal system,” says the Chambers and Bourses Union of Turkey (TOBB), which has started a newspaper campaign to force politicians to make what it calls a mentality revolution.

“The judiciary system is blocked,” says a page-long advertisement that TOBB has placed in national dailies. This is forcing people to seek justice “outside the realm of the courts”, a clear reference to the fact that meting out justice has become a profitable racket for Turkish gangsters. They are active in everything from debt collection to getting rid of tenants who have stopped paying rent.

Turkey is in dire need of a wide-ranging overhaul of its legal system. The legal and regulatory system is flimsy and laws are in many cases antiquated and contradictory, putting obstacles in the way of Turkey’s economic development. Many laws make it difficult to prosecute corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. Members of parliament and bureaucrats enjoy immunity from prosecution.

“All foreign investors have heard that at best the judiciary is incompetent and at worst extremely corrupt,” says an American lawyer who has worked in Turkey for nearly 20 years. “So they assume that if they end up in court in Turkey they are bound to lose since most would not be involved in corruption.”

Experience shows that this is not the case, he adds. “There are courts and judges that give you a fair hearing. This is especially true at the appeals courts. Being a well-known company and having a well-known lawyer helps.”

The risk of arbitrary decisions by government agencies is high, though. Officials capriciously grant and revoke licences. Weighed against opportunities this is not as big a deterrent as might be thought, the lawyer says.

Another lawyer argues that things are getting worse. “I have been in this business for 17 years and what I see is deterioration,” she says. “Justice is not a priority for anyone. The system protects the interests of the powerful people who run the country – politicians, bureaucrats, police, businessmen – you name it. The people who can manipulate are the beneficiary and the public are the victims.”