The new Turkey
Purges of Judges and Lawyers

Six lawyers out of 39 who appeared in court on Tuesday after 12 days in police custody have been arrested on the questionable charges of “filing criminal complaints of torture” and “contacting human rights defenders.”

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Sept. 11 issued detention warrants for 60 lawyers on terror charges. Thirty-nine of the lawyers were taken to court yesterday with a request for their arrest. The court has remanded six lawyers to pretrial detention and put the others under house arrest and judicial supervision.

The lawyers were detained based on witness statements alleging that they served as lawyers on cases of defendants affiliated with the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, after a July 15, 2016 coup attempt that the Turkish government has accused the movement of orchestrating.

The lawyers were brought to Ankara Courthouse in plastic handcuffs on September 14 for an extension of their period of detention. Ten bar associations, in particular those in Istanbul and Ankara, harshly criticized the detention of the lawyers.

Fifty-five lawyers detained on Tuesday in Izmir are currently being interrogated by the local prosecutor, and there are concerns that police operations against attorneys across Turkey will continue.

Accusation of filing a criminal complaint about torture

The investigation into the lawyers began in 2018 under orders from the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, with the suspects under surveillance for the past two years.

According to a statement issued by the prosecutor, the lawyers mobilized human rights defenders, especially well-known lawyers and international law platforms, against the violation of their clients’ rights. In particular, filing a criminal complaint about alleged torture was accepted as terrorist activity.

The lawyers were also accused of committing the crime of taking instructions from a terrorist organization due to the cases of clients dismissed by decree-laws under a two-year state of emergency declared after the failed coup, and users of the ByLock mobile phone app, which the government alleges was favored by members of the Gülen movement, as well as their appeals with the Constitutional Court and constant objections to the court and prosecutor’s decisions.

The prosecutor also claimed that the lawyers tried to dissuade people who wanted to take advantage of the active regret law and did not accept payment from some of their clients. Although the charges against the lawyers are related to their work as lawyers, the prosecutor described their efforts as a crime.

The accusation of targeting police personnel

The lawyers’ allegations of torture while in custody and their criminal complaints were also described as “targeting the police personnel who actively fight against the Gülenists.” The family members of some lawyers who are under arrest were presented to the court by the prosecution as indications that the lawyers were members of a terrorist organization.

As six of the lawyers appearing in court on Tuesday were arrested and the others were put under house arrest, it is now impossible for them to engage in their profession because they cannot go to the courthouse due to their confinement at home.

The arrest of dozens of lawyers, the death of Ebru Timtik, an attorney who was on a death fast to support her demand for a fair trial, and the establishment of pro-government alternative bar associations all took place in Turkey in September.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was the target of corruption operations in 2013. As a result, he has been restructuring the judicial system ever since by establishing new courts, reducing the authority of judges and prosecutors, and changing the number of members of the Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK). However, a coup attempt in July 2016 was the breaking point.

After the failed 2016 coup, 3,926 judges and prosecutors were summarily dismissed over their alleged links to the Gülen movement, a religious group inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Ankara blames for masterminding the abortive putsch. Nearly 2,000 of them were arrested.

The last independent component of the judiciary was the lawyers. Particularly in terrorism cases, the work of lawyers was the target of the pro-government media. Seventy-five lawyers in Ankara and İzmir were detained in September. Rumor has it that lawyers in Istanbul are the next target.

According to data compiled by The Arrested Lawyers Initiative, which focuses on violations of lawyers’ rights, 487 lawyers were arrested in Turkey in 2016 and 2017. According to 2019 data, 143 lawyers are still in prison. With the recent police operations against lawyers in 2020, the number has now increased to 200.

New bar associations established

The second attempt of the Erdoğan government to move against lawyers was to establish new bar associations, called “Alternative Bar Associations.” A recently passed law says that any group of at least 2,000 lawyers can set up their own bar association.

This is possible in five provinces in terms of the number of lawyers, including Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir.

Lawyer Ali Yıldız, one of the founders of The Arrested Lawyers Initiative, explains the purpose of the arrangement.

“The Alternative Bar Association law was passed by the parliament, but it was announced that pro-government lawyers could gather 2,000 signatures only in Istanbul. An important aim of the regulation was to change the delegate balance in the elections for the presidency of the Turkish Bar Association [TBB]. Elections for provincial bar association will be held in October. In 2021 the president of the TBB will be elected. The government has failed to establish an alternative bar, but it may be trying to influence the TBB election with the mass arrest of lawyers. At this point, it is worth remembering that there are three ongoing criminal investigations into the board members of the Istanbul, Ankara, and Diyarbakir bar associations. Another important goal seems to intimidate bar associations and prevent them from reporting serious violations of rights such as the torture and enforced disappearances of recent years. The government, which has absolute authority over the judiciary, wants to take control of the bar associations.”

A sufficient number of signatures could only be collected in Istanbul

Bars can be called the last effective institution to fight against human rights violations in Turkey. The Ankara and Diyarbakır bar associations in particular have published detailed reports on torture and enforced disappearances.

Since detainees have trouble finding a lawyer, especially in mass detentions on terrorism charges, bars are in an essential position in Turkey. In this case, the prosecutor’s office requests a lawyer from the local bar association. If the prosecutor requests a lawyer from a pro-government bar association, the risk exists that victims will be left vulnerable. Hundreds of lawyers highlighted this risk by protesting the alternative bar association legislation with a march from İstanbul to Ankara.

The court is attached to the palace

While the independence of the judiciary in Turkey was discussed within the framework of the alternative bar associations and the arrest of the lawyers, a symbolic event occurred over the weekend.

Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman visited Erdoğan at the presidential palace with his bride immediately after their wedding. The visit of Kocaman, who received a wedding gift from Erdoğan, has become the subject of discussion as an indication of the current state of judicial independence, or lack thereof.
Source: www.turkishminute.com/2020/09/22/
why-are-lawyers-being-targeted-in-turkey/

Sixty jurists issued a letter on the detention of dozens of lawyers in police raids on Tuesday.

The letter is as follows:

On the detention of 56 lawyers, 7 legal interns, 4 dismissed judges and 1 law school graduate in Ankara, Turkey

Through the new “alternative bar associations” legislation and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s own words — “Those who serve as the lawyers of terrorists should not act like terrorists themselves. If they do, there must be a price to pay” — which he said in the presence of judges and prosecutors at the opening ceremony of the new judicial year, the Turkish government had already signaled that a new phase in the persecution of lawyers was about to start. Only a few days after President Erdogan’s speech, on Friday, 11 September 2020, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor ordered the detention of 56 lawyers, seven legal interns, four purged judges, and a law school graduate for “membership in a terrorist organization.”

According to a report by the state-run Anadolu News Agency, their detentions were sought for no offence other than representing people whom the government considers dissidents and accuses of involvement in “terrorism.”

The detained lawyers will reportedly be held in custody for at least 12 days, according to information provided by pro-bono lawyers who reached out to the public prosecutor, and will not be allowed speak with anybody, in violation of the Code on Criminal Procedure. It has also been reported that during the detention and search of the lawyers’ residences procedural laws were violated, and the lawyers were handcuffed from behind and subjected to ill-treatment.

It is a widely accepted fact that in Turkey, terror charges are political in nature and are used to repress, intimidate, and silence any opposition. Those who are arrested, detained, and convicted are subjected to such unlawful actions, contrary to what the government has been suggesting, only because of their political views and their criticism of the government.

In Turkey, lawyers have been arrested and prosecuted on a massive scale since an attempted coup on 15 July 2016. It all started with the arrest of the president of the Konya Bar Association and has continued since then without pause. To date, more than 1,600 lawyers have been arrested and in excess of 600 of them have been imprisoned. Four hundred forty-one lawyers have, on the other hand, been convicted of “membership in a terrorist organization”.

The mass arrests are carried out to intimidate and deter lawyers as they serve a critical purpose in the fight against various unlawful actions on the part of the police and the judiciary, including torture and ill-treatment. The persecution of lawyers facilitates the torture and ill-treatment of detained persons and prevents them from demanding that their fundamental human rights be respected.

The fact that the arrests in question have taken place in Ankara, which has the highest number of COVID-19 infections, is another cause for concern. This has occurred at a time when the Council of Europe and UN human rights bodies have stressed that custodial measures such as arrest and detention should not be carried out during the pandemic unless such measures are absolutely necessary.

According to the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, governments shall ensure that lawyers:

• are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference;

• shall not suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics; and

• shall not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions.

These safeguards are not a professional luxury granted to lawyers, but a necessity to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals. Hence, criminal investigations into lawyers are to be carried out under a specific procedure that involves additional safeguards as long as there is not a situation of “flagrante delicto.”

As established by the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of Alparslan Altan vs Turkey and Hakan Bas vs Turkey, the Turkish judiciary’s interpretation and application of flagrante delicto violate the principle of legality and the right to liberty. Accordingly, the detentions of lawyers in police raids, which has become the new normal in Turkey since July 15, 2016, is a flagrant violation of the law.

The detention of 68 lawyers and jurists, the majority of whom are women, is an important part of the objective to silence lawyers. Remaining silent about this will deprive all citizens of their rights and liberties.

We, as lawyers and jurists, hereby declare that we will not remain silent.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms these unlawful raids and demand the release of our colleagues.

(09/158) Lawyers on Trial in Istanbul…

On September 15, 2020, Penal Department No 16 of the Supreme Court approved the sentenced given to 17 lawyers, all members of Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD) and Peoples’ Law Office (HHB); and reversed the verdicts against 3 lawyers (Barkın Timtik, Selçuk Kozağaçlı and Ezgi Çakır). 20 lawyers from ÇHD and HHB were sentenced to jail penalties by Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No 37 on March 20, 2019.

The Supreme Court ruled that there is no ground to decide on verdicts against lawyer Ebru Timtik, who died on 238th day of her death fast on August 27, 2020. The Supreme Court ruled that 18 years and 9 months of sentence given to Barkın Timtik on the charge of ‘establishing and leading an illegal organisation’ should be re-evaluated together with another case against her on the charge of ‘being an illegal organisation member’.

The Supreme Court ruled that 11 years and 3 months of sentence given to Selçuk Kozağaçlı on the charge of ‘being an illegal organisation member’ should be re-evaluated together with another case against him on the charge of ‘leading an illegal organisation member’; Ezgi Çakır who was sentenced to 8 years on the charge of ‘being an illegal organisation member’ should be charged with ‘knowingly and willingly aiding an illegal organisation’.

Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No 37 has sentenced Ayşegül Çağatay, Yağmur Ereren, Didem Baydar Ünsal, Yaprak Türkmen to 3 years and 9 months each and Ahmet Mandacı and Zehra Özdemir to 3 years 1 month and 15 days each, on the charge of ‘knowingly and willingly aiding an illegal organisation’.

The local court has separated the cases against Oya Aslan and Günay Dağ; and sentenced Özgür Yılmaz and Ebru Timtik to 13 years and 6 months each; Behiç Aşçı and Şükriye Erden to 12 years each; Engin Gökoğlu, Aytaç Ünsal and Süleyman Gökten to 10 years and 6 months each; Aycan Çiçek and Naciye Demir to 9 years each for ‘being an illegal organisation member’.

Lawyers from ÇHD and HHB were detained on November 8, 2017 and were arrested on November 13, 2017. The court has released 17 lawyers on September 14, 2018 however, they were arrested again upon prosecutor’s appeal on September 16 and 17, 2018.

• Sep 11 2020 08:37 Gmt+3
• Last Updated On: Sep 11 2020 08:51 Gmt+3

The Ankara police’s anti-terror unit has started an operation on Friday to detain 48 lawyers and 12 other legal professionals, following the Turkish capital’s chief public prosecutor issuing warrants, his office said in a statement.

The legal professionals are wanted on terrorism charges over their alleged ties to FETÖ, the name Turkey uses for the followers of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen who it holds responsible for the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016.

The 48 lawyers, 7 intern lawyers, 4 dismissed judges and one law school graduate in question had taken on as clients people who were facing trial for FETÖ membership at various levels, “upon orders from the organisation,” the statement said, without revealing any evidence for the allegations.

The suspects are accused of skewing the investigations “in favour of FETÖ under the guise of lawyerly activity,” the statement said, based on informant statements, communications surveillance “and other evidence obtained.” Anonymous informants and secret witnesses are one of the most often used sources for launching cases and convicting defendants in Turkey.

“Hard not to see this as a part of (the Turkish government’s) aim to bring the legal profession under control,” Human Rights Watch Turkey Director Emma Sinclair-Webb said in a tweet, “and target lawyers on the basis of which clients they represent.” 

Ankara police reportedly arrest up to 60 on suspicion of being a "FETÖ lawyers' structure". Hard not to see this as a part of the govt aim to bring the legal profession under control and target lawyers on the basis of which clients they represent https://t.co/nUI05wwOsz

— Emma Sinclair-Webb (@esinclairwebb) September 11, 2020

Meanwhile, daily Milliyet reported 22 arrests in another operation to purge remaining FETÖ members from the armed forces. Evidence against the detainees included the use of instant messaging program ByLock. Several among them were military academy students. Eleven other people connected to the Turkish armed forces were detained in a separate operation based in the central Anatolian Konya province.

The aftermath of July 15 saw more than 130,000 public servants dismissed in waves of purges. Turkey’s Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) completed investigations into 688 members of the judiciary in January, signalling a new wave, while it announced a total of 3,926 judges and prosecutors dismissed since the failed putsch.

Turkish police on Friday attacked mourners gathered at an Alevi cultural centre in Istanbul to pay their respects to lawyer Ebru Timtik, who died on Thursday night after more than 230 days on hunger strike in her fight for a fair trial.

Police user pepper spray and fired rubber bullets on crowds looking to make their way to the city’s Gazi cemetery, where Timtik was being laid to rest, Evrensel newspaper reported.

Ebru Timtik'in cenaze töreninde polis, biber gazı ve plastik mermi ile yürüyüşü engelledi

📹 Evrenselhttps://t.co/R18G2AUA9C pic.twitter.com/KA7Lrd2BQy

— Evrensel Gazetesi (@evrenselgzt) August 28, 2020

Timtik died in an Istanbul hospital on Thursday on the 238th day of her hunger strike.

The lawyer was arrested in 2017 over terrorism charges, related to her clients who faced similar charges over membership of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C). She was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison in 2019 and had been on a hunger strike along with seven other lawyers from the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) since February 3 this year.

Police on Friday took the body of Timtik straight from the forensic medical department to the Alevi cultural centre in Istanbul’s Gazi district to stop lawyers from her bar association and friends carrying her there.

A group of lawyers on Friday held a ceremony in front of the Istanbul Bar Association, Evrensel said.

“Everyone should know that this death could have been prevented,” Istanbul Bar Association head Mehmet Durakoğlu said during the ceremony. “But they didn’t…we will continue our struggle. While wishing for God’s mercy on her, we promise that will be defenders of just trials.”

Timtik and 17 other lawyers from the association were put on trial over falsified and otherwise inadmissible evidence, according to the ÇHD, which maintains the case against the lawyers was based on a piece of evidence that had carried over from another investigation in 2013, and the digital file had not been copied or preserved appropriately.

A forensic medical report dated July 30 stated that prison was detrimental to Timtik’s health. But a judge ruled her continued detention was justified as she posed a “flight risk.”

A large poster of Timtik was unfurled in front of the Bar Association in Istanbul on Friday, prompting reactions from the government.

“It is unacceptable for the bar association to be the backyard for illegal and marginal formations,” Deutsche Welle Turkish cited Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül as saying on Saturday.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said he condemned the bar association for “hanging the photograph of a member of a terrorist organisation,” and vowed to launch a criminal complaint against the group.

The poster of Timtik has since been removed, a move Soylu claimed was carried out by the police. 

But the Istanbul Bar Association released a written statement on Saturday that the move to hang the poster of Timtik was done “despite the association” and the decision to remove the poster was also made by them, Deutsche Welle said.

Turkey has prosecuted more than 1,500 attorneys, arresting 599 of them, on terrorism charges, since a 2016 failed coup, according to a newly released report from The Arrested Lawyers initiative. As of Sept. 1, 321 lawyers had been sentenced to a total of 2,022 years in prison for terrorist group membership or disseminating terrorist propaganda.

Turkey survived a coup attempt in 2016, after which a two-year-long state of emergency was declared by the government, which accuses the faith-based Gülen movement of orchestrating the abortive putsch. The Gülen movement strongly denies any involvement.

The state of emergency measures are still at work in the country’s judiciary as mass detention continue. “Lawyers have particularly been targeted due to the identity or affinity of their clients,” the report said. Dozens of lawyers who were defending Gülen-linked suspects have been arrested due to alleged Gülen ties in the last three years.

The report also said Turkey undermined the independence of bar associations with a presidential degree that gives the Turkish president the authority to dismiss chairpersons or board members of bar associations.

Still, more than 50 bar associations on Monday boycotted a ceremony marking the opening of the new judicial year at the presidential palace, stating that attending the event would jeopardize their independence.

The report criticized the Justice Ministry for preventing judges and prosecutors who were dismissed by government decrees during the state of emergency from working as private lawyers. Turkey has sacked more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors since the failed coup.

Turkish citizens are resorting in vain to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in ever greater numbers as trust in their domestic courts erodes, the Law Society of England and Wales said as it made a joint submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s universal periodic review of Turkey on behalf of an international coalition of legal organisations.

“Judges’ and prosecutors’ independence have been systematically undermined in Turkey since the failed coup in 2016,” Law Society president Simon Davis said.

“Hundreds of judges, prosecutors and lawyers have been arrested, detained and convicted on charges of terrorism without credible evidence.

“Lawyers have been identified with and punished for their clients’ causes. More than 1,500 lawyers have been prosecuted, hundreds of them in mass trials.

“Lawyers who can still practise report intimidation and threats.

“This menacing environment undermines the right of every citizen to legal representation and a fair trial, which may explain why Turkish citizens submitted more than 57,000 petitions to the European Court of Human Rights in 2017.

“But that court will only take on cases where every domestic remedy has been exhausted, and it does not yet recognise that Turkish citizens have no effective domestic remedy, so they are being sent back to the Turkish courts in their thousands.”

Turkey’s chilling roll call of injustice includes:

• 57,039 petitions to the ECtHR in 2017 from Turkish citizens, 25,000 of which rejected for failure to exhaust domestic remedies

• 4,260 judges and prosecutors dismissed

• 634 judges and prosecutors convicted on terrorism charges

• 1,546 lawyers prosecuted, 311 sentenced to a total of 1,967 years in prison

• 599 lawyers arrested and detained

“Turkey must protect the independence of lawyers, judges and prosecutors – in legislation and in practice – so that they can perform their professional duties without intimidation and improper interference,” Simon Davis said.

“The rule of law and the independence of the legal profession are essential foundations for political, social and economic stability.

“The Law Society and the international legal profession will continue to support our colleagues working in such difficult conditions and do whatever we can to help restore meaningful access to justice for all in Turkey.”

As the Human Rights Association (İHD), we would like to state that we regard all lawyers, who especially deal with social problems and undertake defense activities by continuously taking sides with victims in Turkey, as human rights defenders.

This report does not cover the conditions of lawyers who were imprisoned because of their professional activities within the scope of investigations on the Fethullah Gülen organization as there is no sufficient information on the matter presently. We would like to point out that there are serious rights violations regarding this matter and many lawyers were subjected to rights violations.

The aim of this report is to demonstrate the effects of deteriorating judiciary pressure under the State of Emergency conditions on lawyers who are also rights defenders and to draw attention to the problem in this field. There surely are shortcomings in our report. Therefore, we would also like to express that we could always update our report in line with recommendations from lawyers following the publication of this report.

RECCOMENDATIONS
All lawyers, who have been subjected to investigations and prosecutions because of their professional activities, their activities as defense lawyers and human rights defenders, should be set free.

Those actors, who called forth lawyers to stand trial or attempted to intimidate lawyers through threats and pressures, should be pointed out by effective investigation methods and should be effectively prosecuted, and the policy of impunity in Turkey should be brought to an end.

All the prosecutions and the lawsuits launched within the scope of organizational activity among the law enforcement (police, military police, intelligence) and the judiciary should be readdressed and the plots should be unearthed.
The investigations and lawsuits against lawyers should be monitored and brought into view notably by the Union of Turkish Bar Associations and the international community; bar associations’ capacities should be enhanced.
A judiciary structure in line with the principle of rule of law should be implemented, confidence in justice should be reestablished in Turkey, specially authorised heavy penal courts and specially authorized prosecutors should be closed down.

The most significant problem in Turkey is the fact that the definition of terror is subjective. Turkey should redefine terrorism offences in line with the UN Security Council’s resolutions and should discontinue qualifying offences other than those stated in these resolutions as terrorism offences. A distinction should be made between those who resort to violence and who do not, and the penal legislation should be reorganized accordingly.

Notably the right of defense and everyone’s right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and protest, and association should be guaranteed as per international conventions.

Visits to Turkey by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, and Independent Expert on Minority Issues should be rendered possible as soon as possible and the necessary changes that they may point out to in their reports should be implemented.
The State of Emergency should be lifted and remedy mechanisms should be established to the victims by rescinding the illegitimate Governmental Decrees.

Based on the fact that the profession of lawyer is a constituent element of the judiciary, the legislation on the restriction of the right of defense should be amended and legal guarantees should be restored for the profession of lawyers.
An urgent legislative regulation regarding the deferral and annulment of offences committed via the media and the related sentences alongside with the removal of their consequences until the fundamental regulations are implemented should be put into effect as there is gross victimization in Turkey because of the ban on and punishment of freedom of expression.

Pressures on Lawyers Report
Court Cases Against Lawyers
Human Rights Association
Legal Affairs Commission

BY THE ARRESTED LAWYERS INITIATIVE on 6 MARCH 2018 • ( 1 )

These reports also indicate the use of torture, ill-treatment and excessive solitary confinement against legal professionals, which can be highlighted in the case of a senior judge held in solitary confinement for more than a year and a lawyer arrested with 17 colleagues who were allegedly tortured by prison officials. Finally, on 5 January 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office in Trabzon ruled that Decree Law No. 667 grants State officials immunity for any act committed within their duties under the state of emergency decrees, including acts of torture and ill-treatment. The prohibition on the use of torture and the duty of states to prevent and punish torture are non-derogable rights under international human rights law and, therefore, cannot be limited or suspended under any circumstance. We call on the Special Rapporteur to investigate and recommend remediation of the potential impunity for torture granted to State officials.

We invite Council to urge Turkey to:

 Stop and remedy the arbitrary arrest, detention and wrongful prosecution of legal professionals; and

 Prevent, investigate and punish the use of torture and ill-treatment by State officials.”