Kenan İpek (born 5 October 1959) is a Turkish legal

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

who served as the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

from 7 March to 17 November 2015. Having previously served as the Undersecretary to the Justice Ministry, İpek succeeded the

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...

minister

Bekir Bozdağ Bekir Bozdağ (born 1 April 1965) is a Turkish lawyer and politician of Kurdish origin and former Minister of Justice. On 6 July 2011 he was appointed the Deputy Prime Minister in the third cabinet of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. On ...

as the Minister of Justice in accordance to Article 114 of the

Turkish Constitution The Constitution of Turkey, formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Türkiye (), and informally as the Constitution of 1982 (), is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government, and sets out the pr ...

three months before the June 2015 general election. He is, formally, of no political affiliation, and concurrently served as the President of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors during his time as Minister.

Early life and career

Born in

Rize Rize (; ; ; ka, რიზე}; ) is a coastal city in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Rize Province and Rize District.Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

Faculty of Law in 1982. In 1983, he applied to join the judiciary in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

and subsequently served in numerous roles as a Prosecutor. On 12 November 1997, he joined the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, becoming the Prisons Manager on 6 October 2003 and as a senior advisor to the Ministry on 26 August 2008. He served in this position until 31 December 2013, becoming the Undersecretary to the Minister on 1 January 2014.

Minister of Justice

With the Constitution requiring that the serving partisan Minister should vacate his position to his or her Undersecretary at least three months before a general election, İpek took over from Bekir Bozdağ as Minister of Justice on 7 March 2015 and is due to serve until a new government is formed after the election. As the Minister of Justice, İpek concurrently serves as the President of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors. The other ministers who replaced partisan ministers due to the constitutional requirement were

Sebahattin Öztürk Sebahattin Öztürk (born 1 July 1962) is a Turkish politician, civil servant and bureaucrat who served as the Minister of the Interior of Turkey between March and August 2015. Previously the Undersecretary to the Interior Ministry since 2014, ...

, who replaced

Efkan Ala Efkan Ala (born 21 February 1965) is a Turkish politician and former civil servant who served as the Minister of the Interior from November 2015 to August 2016;. He previously held the same post from 2013 to June 2015 despite not being a member ...

as the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

and Feridun Bilgin, replacing

Lütfi Elvan Lütfi Elvan (born 12 March 1962) is a Turkish politician. Elvan has served as the Minister of Finance and Treasury of Turkey from November 2020 to December 2021. He previously served as the Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication f ...

as the Transport, Maritime and Communications Minister.

Judicial suspension controversy

In late April, the Supreme board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), of which İpek serves as the President, suspended the judges who ordered the release of imprisoned

Samanyolu TV Samanyolu TV was an international Turkish language TV station with its headquarters in Istanbul. The channel is known for its closeness to Fethullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülen movement. Samanyolu TV was previously owned by Yayıncılık A. ...

broadcaster Hidayet Karaca and 70 other police officers. The individuals were being held due to alleged links with the anti-government

Gülen movement The Gülen movement () or Hizmet movement () is an Islamist fraternal movement. It is a sub-sect of Sunni Islam based on a Nursian theological perspective as reflected in Fethullah Gülen's religious teachings. It is referred to by its membe ...

led by exiled

Fethullah Gülen Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (27 April 1941 – 20 October 2024) was a Turkish Ulama, Muslim scholar, preacher, and leader of the Gülen movement who as of 2016 had millions of followers. Gülen was an influential Neo-Ottomanism, neo-Ottomanist, A ...

, with Karaca being accused of establishing an armed terrorist organisation. In a statement, İpek claimed that the judges who ordered their release did so illegally from an illegal court and suspended them indefinitely while also accusing them of being followers of Fethullah Gülen. He further stated that attempts to destabilise the social order and the employment of illegal methods to do so would be curbed. President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

also openly supported their suspension, while opposition commentators accused the government of undermining the rule of law and the independence of the Judiciary. In May, the HSYK expelled and suspended indefinitely four judges and a prosecutor involved in the investigation of the 2013 government corruption scandal.

External links

Website of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors
*www.justice.gov.tr

(English)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ipek, Kenan 1959 births Living people Ministers of justice of Turkey Istanbul University alumni Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Members of the 63rd government of Turkey People from Rize Turkish judges

Early life and career

Minister of Justice

Judicial suspension controversy

See also

External links

References