Turkish Government Further Tightens Grip on Judiciary

Candidates backed by Turkey's ruling party won the majority of seats in elections for the country's top judicial body, further tightening government control over the judiciary, state media said Monday.

The weekend vote was the latest round in a bitter feud between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his former ally Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of using his influence over the police and judiciary to damage the government with corruption allegations.

Erdogan-backed candidates won eight of out of 10 seats in a vote by more than 14,000 judges and prosecutors of the High Board of Judges and Prosecutors Council (HSYK), an independent body responsible for the appointment of judges.

The two other seats of the HSYK, which has 22 members in total, were filled by candidates seen as close to the U.S.-based Gulen, according to the provisional results published by the state-run Anatolia news agency.

Erdogan on Monday welcomed the result and said: "Our prosecutors and judges retained their honor and dignity and gave a proper answer to those trying to gain control of the judiciary and hold it hostage."

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also hailed it as the "victory of the free will."

Erdogan has long accused followers of Gulen of establishing a "parallel state" and of launching a corruption probe late last year implicating the president and his inner circle.

The president, who ruled Turkey as premier for over a decade, has struck back by seeking to curb the judiciary and sacked hundreds of police and prosecutors involved in the investigation.

The parliament in April passed a law giving the government greater sway over the HSYK, which has raised questions at home and abroad about the state of democracy in Turkey.

But Turkey's constitutional court annulled key sections of the law, saying it was unconstitutional.