The judicial year starts on 1st of September every year in Turkey. The judicial recess which starts 20th of July ends on 1st of September. Since, 1 September, 2019 is Sunday, Judicial Year opening ceremony will take place on 2 September in the Presidential Palace. However, on the eve of the opening ceremony, Turkish bar associations are revolting against Government’s unlawful pressure on the judiciary and the legal profession as a whole. Over 50 bar associations representing 95% of all Turkish lawyers are slating the Court of Cassation over its decision to hold the ceremony in Erdogan’s palace. 51 provincial bar associations, including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Van and Diyarbakir, have so far announced that they will decline an invitation to attend the 2019 Judicial Year Opening Ceremony which will take place on 2 September 2019. Only three associations have accepted participating the ceremony, according to the Turkish media.
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Since 2016’s coup attempt, there has been a relentless campaign of arrests which has targeted fellow lawyers across the country. In 77 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, lawyers have been detained, prosecuted and convicted due to alleged terror-linked offenses. As of today, more than 1500 lawyers have been prosecuted and 599 lawyers arrested. So far, 321 lawyers have been sentenced to 2022 years in prison on the grounds of membership of an armed terrorism organization or of spreading terrorist propaganda.
14 of the persecuted lawyers are presidents (or former presidents) of their respective provincial bar associations, for example; President of the Konya Bar Association, Fevzi Kayacan, President of the Trabzon Bar Association, Orhan Öngöz, President of the Siirt Bar Association, Cemal Acar, President of the Gumushane Bar Association, Ismail Tastan were arrested and unlawfully unseated. Furthermore, the presidents of the Aksaray and Kahramanmaras Bar Associations, Levent Bozkurt and Vahit Bagci, respectively, and the former presidents of the Yozgat Bar Association, Haci Ibis and Fahri Acikgoz, were detained for a certain time before they were released on bail.
All of the persecuted lawyers are being charged with terror-linked offenses; the two main accusations imputed to them are membership of an armed terrorist organisation, and forming and leading an armed terrorist organisation.
Lawyers have particularly been targeted due to the identity or affinity of their clients. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that the OHCHR has observed a pattern concerning the persecution of lawyers representing individuals who areaccused of terrorism offences, where they are associated with their clients’ political views (oralleged political views) in the discharge of their professional duties and are consequently prosecuted for the same, or other related offences of which their clients are being accused.
THE INDEPENDENCE OF BAR ASSOCIATIONS HAS BEEN DIMINISHED
Under Article 135 of the Constitution, Bar Associations are independent professional bodies having the characteristics of public institutions.15 However, by Presidential Decree No:5 (Presidential Decree as to the State Inspection Institution / Devlet Denetleme Kurumu – DDK), the Turkish Presidency acquired the authority to inspect Bar Associations, and to suspend their Chairperson and board members (Article 6).16 The Turkish Presidency’s power to suspend a Bar Association’s elected executives has significantly impaired their independence.
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UNLAWFUL RESTRICTIONS ON ADMISSION TO THE PROFESSION OF LAWYER
Pursuant to the Law No.1136 (the Code of Lawyers) internship as a lawyer, or who serves as a judge or prosecutor for at-least five years, is, everyone who successfully fulfills the admitted to the profession of lawyer. Since July 2016, the Turkish Justice Ministry has been preventing dismissed public servants from being a lawyer. The Justice Ministry argues that the dismissed public servants cannot be lawyers and cannot be admitted to an internship as a lawyer, under the Article of the Decree Laws, as follows “those dismissed from service under paragraph one shall no longer be employed in public service.” Having misinterpreted this provision, The Justice Ministry refuses to issue lawyers’ licenses to school academics, judges and prosecutors who were dismissed under the Emergency Regime.
THE FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION OF LAWYERS HAS BEEN DIMINISHED
The Turkish Government’s crackdown on lawyers has targeted not only their rights to liberty and security, but also their freedom of association. 34 (of the 1412) associations (NGOs) operating in 20 different provinces of Turkey that were founded by lawyers were permanently dissolved under Emergency Decrees, all the assets of these NGOs were confiscated, without any compensation. What is worse, almost all of the members of these lawyers’ associations’ have been prosecuted under Anti-Terrorism Laws.
SEE OUR LATEST REPORT: MASS PROSECUTION OF LAWYERS IN TURKEY
Also, more than 4500 judges and prosecutors were dismissed and they were subsequently arrested. There are still hundreds of judges and public prosecutors in prison with some 200 of them are in solitary confinement.
According to the World Justice Project’s annual report entitled “Rule of Law Index 2019″, Turkey is on 109th rank amongst 126 countries. Turkey is on 122nd rank in terms of “fundamental rights” and on 123rd rank in terms of “constraints on government powers” amongst 126 countries.
WJP’s 2019 Rule of Law Index (download Turkey in index)
Categories: Unjust / Wrongful Convictions