The press advisor for Turkey’s Constitutional Court has been implicated in a fraud case involving the alleged sale of public land and faces a potential sentence of up to 20 years, according to a report by the T24 news website on Thursday.
Osman Arslan was briefly detained in November as part of an investigation launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into allegations of defrauding citizens of more than 40 million Turkish lira ($1.1 million) by promising access to state-owned properties in İstanbul and Antalya.
Ankara prosecutors accuse the press advisor of “aggravated fraud” and “forgery,” demanding a prison sentence of 20 years in the indictment, which was accepted by the Ankara 7th High Criminal Court.
The indictment claims that Arslan used his position at the top court to create the impression that he could facilitate the sale of public land through his alleged connections at the General Directorate of National Property. “The evidence establishes that Osman Arslan and the other suspects acted together to defraud the complainant by pretending to have influence in public institutions,” the indictment says.
Arslan introduced the complainant to another suspect, Serkan, and benefited financially through indirect payments funnelled into his son’s bank account, according to the indictment.
Arslan denied the allegations, telling T24, “Although the prosecution has accusations against me, … I am confident that the Turkish judiciary will prove my innocence.”
The first hearing of the trial is scheduled for March 6, 2025.
Turkey has seen an erosion in the rule of law, especially after a failed coup in July 2016, when more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors were removed under the pretext of an anti-coup fight.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is accused of replacing the purged judiciary members with young and inexperienced judges and prosecutors who have close links to the AKP.
The mass disbarment of members of the judiciary is believed by many to have had a chilling effect on the entire justice system, intimidating the remaining judges and prosecutors into doing the government’s bidding by launching politically motivated investigations of critics.
Turkish judicial officials frequently face allegations of corruption and bribery as well as widespread criticism for their perceived lack of independence under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP government.
The president is blamed for exerting absolute control over the judiciary thanks to vast powers granted him by a presidential system of governance
In a development that confirmed the erosion of the Turkish judiciary, Turkey was ranked 117th among 142 countries in the rule of law index published by the World Justice Project (WJP) in late October.