Six critical 'White Toros' questions from the CHP

Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul Deputy Zeynel Emre brought the issue of a public prosecutor having a "white Toros" model in his office to the attention of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and asked whether the Ministry of Justice had launched an investigation.

Emre submitted a written parliamentary question to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, requesting an answer from Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç, regarding the fact that a public prosecutor serving in Istanbul keeps a "white Toros" model in his office.

"THIS IS AN OBJECT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE" Zeynel Emre stated that the "white Toros" became a symbol of unsolved murders and enforced disappearances in the 1990s, emphasizing that the presence of this symbol in a prosecutor's office carries not only legal but also political and psychological significance. Emre stated that this situation undermines trust in the judiciary, saying, "This is an object of psychological warfare."

OPERATIONS CONDUCTED ON CHP MUNICIPALITIES

The proposal also raised concerns that the successive investigations targeting opposition parties and municipalities, particularly since the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19, 2025, are aimed at creating political pressure and intimidation.

Among the questions Emre posed to Justice Minister Tunç were the following:

1- Is it true that a public prosecutor in Istanbul keeps a model of a "White Toros" in his office? Has any administrative investigation been launched by the Ministry of Justice or the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) regarding this allegation?

2- As is known, the Turkish Judicial Ethics Declaration was adopted by the HSK General Assembly on March 6, 2019, shared with the public, and published in the Official Gazette dated March 14, 2019. Has the HSK's Judicial Ethics Bureau made an official assessment that a prosecutor's display of symbols in his office, such as the "White Toros" symbol, that indicate a political, ideological, or traumatic past, violates the principles of "independence" and "impartiality" within the scope of the Turkish Judicial Ethics Declaration?

3- Otherwise, how can it be ensured that prosecutors, who keep symbols like the "White Toros" in their offices that evoke political, ideological, and historical traumas, do not use these symbols as a means of threat against the people they are investigating and that the perception of impartiality regarding the investigations they are conducting will not be damaged?

4- Despite the constitutional guarantee that the judiciary in Türkiye should be independent, impartial, and stay away from political power, is the fact that a prosecutor placed a White Toros model in his office, symbolically intimidating the public and those concerned, considered a disciplinary problem by your Ministry?

5- Isn't the use of attitudes and symbols by judges and prosecutors that undermine the principle of a fair trial considered a violation of the "right to an independent and impartial tribunal" under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights? Do you intend to implement an effective internal oversight mechanism against such behavior within the scope of the ECHR, to which Türkiye is a party?

6- The principle of "separation of powers," which forms the core of the rule of law, prohibits the judiciary from behaving in a manner similar to the executive branch. Despite this, can the Ministry of Justice even speak of an independent judiciary if members of the judiciary, whether de facto or symbolically, align themselves with the executive branch?

#Parliamentary Question | I asked Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç: What is the White Toros model doing on the prosecutor's desk? pic.twitter.com/OrAnsyskPc

— Zeynel Emre (@ZeynelEmre_) July 22, 2025

Source: News Center