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Ankara court passes decision to judge President Abdullah Gul

18 May 2009 16:15 (UTC +04:00)

In the text of the court decision Abdullah Gul, who is accused of counterfeiting documents, is called â€œsuspected personâ€ six times. Chairman of the court Osman Kachmaz passed the decision:
â€œAccording to the Constitution and laws of Turkish Republic, everybody can be judged, it is noted to whom the right of right of inviolability is applied. With the exception of these persons, no one has the right of inviolability. Those who want the right of inviolability to be applied on president should amend the Constitution.â€

Welfare Party, which was also led by Abdullah Gul and closed under the decision of the Constitutional Court in 1997, had to return the funds allocated by the state. The party leadership did not return the funds saying the money had been sent to the partyâ€™s organizations and spent. Inspectors of the Finance Ministry carried out investigation and determined that approximately 1 million liras had been embezzled under counterfeit documents. Ankara General Prosecutorâ€™s Office launched criminal case on the fact. But Abdullah Gul was not held accountable, as he was parliamentarian up to 2007, when he was elected president. After Gul was elected president, it wad disputed whether he would be judged or not. Ankara General Prosecutorâ€™s Office came to the conclusion that president can not be judged and stopped the investigation. An appeal was filed against this decision and Ankaraâ€™s Sincan court passed a decision to judge Abdullah Gul.