Turkey's main opposition party asked the top court on Friday to overturn a law tightening government control of the judiciary, which it sees as a bid by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to snuff out a corruption scandal, according to Reuters. Hours after the law was enacted late on Thursday, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag appointed at least nine new senior members of the judiciary. The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) said the law contained many violations of the constitution, and appealed to the Constitutional Court to repeal it. Voice recordings posted on YouTube this week purporting to be Erdogan discussing financial matters with his son have piled pressure on him as he battles graft allegations, which pose one of the biggest challenges of his 11-year rule. Erdogan has said the recordings are a "fabricated montage" and has accused U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose network of followers is believed to have built extensive influence in the police and judiciary over decades, of contriving the corruption scandal in a bid to unseat him. The new law gives the government more control over the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), which makes top judicial appointments. Erdogan had already responded to the graft investigation by dismissing or reassigning thousands of police officers and hundreds of judges and prosecutors, in what his aides acknowledge is a bid to wipe out Gulen's influence. -- SPA 18:46 LOCAL TIME 15:46 GMT تغريد
