Updates July 6, 2020 – The Bill was passed by the Justice Commission of the Parliament and referred to the General Assembly for final deliberation and voting. What does the Bill bring? Draft law reduces leading bar associations’ authority, leads… Read More ›
Turkish Government posed to intervene into elections of Bar Associations. The Government’s purpose is to diminish the influence of the Bar Associations of Turkey’s large cities, which are sensitive about the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, women’s rights and human rights violations. Bar Associations, such as Ankara, Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa, Antalya and Izmir, are also very sensitive to torture and enforced disappearance complaints, and have published several reports documenting such incidents, which has disturbed the Government.
Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an ex officio investigation against the Ankara Bar Association because of its statement denouncing Turkey’s top mufti Ali Erbaş who, during his Friday sermon on April 24, alleged that LGBT people were the source for evil and epidemic.
Turkey | 25 Bar Associations made a 7-article declaration:
i. The Council of Judges and Prosecutors has entirely politicized,
ii. Turkey is experiencing the most severe judicial crisis of its history,
iii. Turkey has become the largest prisoner of lawyers.
On 21 February 2020, thirty bar associations called for the resignation of the members of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) over its systematic intervention into the judicial process and (re)detention of individuals even before or just after their release. The latest instance was replacing three judges and initiating an investigation against them who acquitted Osman Kavala and others in conformity with the judgment of European Court of Human Rights.
