ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Wednesday rejected a report by the European Parliament that called for possible sanctions on the country’s justice minister and other officials it accuses of violating human rights and freedoms.The annual report approved in a plenary session earlier in the day, urges the European Union to consider freezing the assets of Turkish officials, including Akin Gurlek — the former Istanbul chief public prosecutor who was promoted to justice minister earlier this year.The parliament’s report portrayed Gurlek as a key actor “in the state’s repressive machinery,” maintaining that his promotion was an indication “that throughout his career he has always been a political actor following a political agenda.”In a strongly-worded statement, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry rejected the report, accusing it of unfairly targeting the justice minister.
“We categorically reject the report’s distortion of legal processes conducted by the independent Turkish judiciary and its targeting of our Minister of Justice with baseless accusations,” the statement read.As Istanbul chief prosecutor, Gurlek presided over high‑profile trials against several members of the main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party or CHP — legal proceedings that the opposition has long denounced as politically motivated.
