Home › Situation in Turkey › İstanbul Bar Association Leadership Removed in Politically Charged Court Ruling

İstanbul Bar Association Leadership Removed in Politically Charged Court Ruling

By The Arrested Lawyers Initiative on 22 March 2025

March 21, 2025 | İstanbul – In a decision widely condemned as politically motivated, the İstanbul 2nd Civil Court of First Instance has removed the entire executive board of the İstanbul Bar Association, including its president, constitutional law scholar Prof. Dr. İbrahim Özden Kaboğlu. The ruling comes in response to a statement the Bar issued following the killing of two journalists in a December 2024 airstrike in northern Syria, and marks an escalation in the Turkish government’s crackdown on legal institutions and independent voices.

The court invoked Article 77/5 of Turkey’s Attorneyship Law, which permits the removal of bar leaders who act beyond their legal responsibilities. It rejected all defense motions, including requests to hear witnesses, consult the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB), and recuse the judge—raising serious concerns about due process. The decision orders new elections to be held within one month of the ruling becoming final and can be appealed within two weeks.

But critics say the process bears all the hallmarks of a show trial.

Turkish Judiciary Under the Executive Control

The timing and conduct of the case have raised alarm, particularly given its initiation under newly appointed İstanbul Chief Prosecutor Akın Gürlek, a figure widely associated with politically driven prosecutions during his tenure as a judge. Gürlek was appointed to his current role in September 2024 despite his controversial record, which includes presiding over high-profile political cases against journalists, human rights defenders, and opposition politicians.

Legal observers point to his appointment as a signal of intensified political control over the judiciary, particularly in cases touching on sensitive issues like Kurdish rights, freedom of expression, and criticism of military operations.

“The case against the İstanbul Bar didn’t just begin in a courtroom—it began the moment Akın Gürlek took office,” said a senior lawyer attending the hearing. “This isn’t about the law. It’s about sending a message to the legal community: don’t step out of line.”

“There Was No Trial Today” – National Bar President Condemns Verdict

TBB President Erinç Sağkan delivered a scathing statement following the verdict, declaring:

“I have no intention of legitimizing this trial by describing the unlawfulness and violations of procedural rules that took place today, as if it was a real trial. There was no trial here today. Today, we have experienced one of the gravest violations of the influence of politics on the judiciary.”

Sağkan stressed that the attack on the İstanbul Bar is an attack on all of Turkey’s 81 bar associations—and, more fundamentally, on the right to defense for the entire population:

“Today, the right to defense of 85 million people has been massacred. It is a shameful night, a shameful evening, a shameful decision. This is not a court decision. Today, we witnessed the instrumentalization of the judiciary and an attempt to establish domination over a bar association.”

He continued:

“You can neither silence the İstanbul Bar Association, nor the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, nor our 81 bar associations. We derive our power from the people—not from the authority of the time.”

Uproar in Court

The hearing was chaotic from the start. Lawyers packed the courtroom, along with observers from across Turkey and abroad. Defense arguments were repeatedly interrupted, and several lawyers accused the court of having already made up its mind. When the judge ordered the courtroom cleared, dozens of lawyers refused to leave, chanting: “Justice, Law, Freedom” and “We won’t be silent, we won’t be afraid, we won’t obey.” They eventually left in protest, filing another motion to recuse the judge.

Board member Rukiye Leyla Süren refused to testify after her lawyer momentarily stepped outside, calling the conditions a human rights violation. Former Bar President Turgut Kazan, now 64 years in the legal profession, warned the court it was “misinterpreting the law under political pressure.”

The “Crime”: Defending Humanitarian Law

The case centers on a December 19, 2024 airstrike in northern Syria that killed two journalists: Cihan Bilgin (ANHA) and Nazım Daştan (ANF), both of whom were reporting for Kurdish media outlets. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights identified the strike as a Turkish drone attack amid clashes between Turkish-backed forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The İstanbul Bar Association issued a statement condemning the targeting of journalists in conflict zones, calling it a violation of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law. It urged a full investigation, stating:

“Targeting members of the press in conflict zones is a war crime under the Rome Statute.”

Prosecutors responded by indicting the Bar’s leadership on charges of “terrorist propaganda” and “publicly spreading false information.” They alleged that the two journalists were affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and that the Bar had sought to portray them as civilians to “legitimize terrorism.”

Human rights organizations and legal associations at home and abroad have strongly rejected the indictment as baseless and politically motivated.

International Backlash

The German Bar Association (DAV) and international legal bodies have sharply criticized the ruling, warning that it is part of a broader campaign to dismantle judicial independence in Turkey.

“This is not an isolated incident,” said one international observer. “It fits into a pattern: silencing lawyers, criminalizing dissent, and eroding rule of law. What happened today in İstanbul should concern every democracy.”