Erdogan criticises top Turkey court, stoking legal spat

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan criticised the Constitutional Court for “many mistakes” and urged his ruling AK Party colleagues to support an unprecedented challenge to the court by an appeals court, stoking a potential legal crisis.
According to comments made late on Thursday, Erdogan weighed into a growing debate over the rule of law after the appeals Court of Cassation made a criminal complaint against Constitutional Court judges on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, the Constitutional Court has made many mistakes in a row at this point, which seriously saddens us,” Erdogan told reporters on a flight back from Uzbekistan, according to a text of the interview published by his office on Friday.
The top appeals court, known as Yargitay, said in its complaint that the Constitutional Court’s ruling last month in favour of releasing jailed parliamentary deputy Can Atalay was unconstitutional.