‘Ankara is apparently a police state’

* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

İstanbul Bar Association Chair Mehmet Durakoğlu made a statement in front of İstanbul Bar Association yesterday (June 23) after he returned from the capital city of Ankara as their "Defense March" came to an end.

Protesting the planned amendments to the Attorneys' Act, the chairs of several bar associations of Turkey marched to Ankara. However, they were blocked at the entrance of the capital city, where they had to spend the night behind police barricades and under heavy rain.

As the bar chairs announced that "they would call on all lawyers across Turkey to come to Ankara," they were allowed to enter the city and could finally reach the Monumental Tomb of Atatürk yesterday.

CLICK - Bar chairs said 'We will call on all lawyers to come to Ankara,' barricades removed

Returning from the capital city to İstanbul, İstanbul Bar Chair Durakoğlu was welcomed in front of the bar building in Taksim, Beyoğlu.

As reported by the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), Mehmet Durakoğlu underlined that they were going through a period when a great struggle was being waged for the profession of attorneyship.

Other highlights from his speech were as follows:

'It is almost a republic of its own'

"We have come from a war that we do not know. While we were striving to make this country a rule of law and stop it from being a state of law, we went to Ankara and... it is apparently a police state.

"Despite the explicit provisions of the Constitution, the Law no. 2918, the ECtHR and Constitutional Court judgements, they attempted to explain to us what a meeting and demonstration was.

"We asked them, 'What are you doing, really? Can you please explain to us as well? Why cannot we march?' They could not find an answer to this.

"If what we were doing was a crime, then detain us. Can you imagine such an arbitrary state as this? Can you imagine such a law enforcement agency? Can you imagine such an understanding of security?

"I told them, too. There is no such understanding anywhere in Turkey. It has become a republic of its own, in a sense. It is almost a police state.

"I told them quite openly: 'I am the chair of a bar association. What you are doing is unlawful. I will call all responsible parties to account the moment I leave. But no one should expect that after facing such an unlawful treatment, a lawyer and, above all, a bar association chair, will say, "OK, if that is your order, we will go back, then." No matter how long it will take, three months, five months... We cannot go anywhere else from here.'

'Everyone should know that lawyers don't obey'

"Every should know that defense cannot be silenced, lawyers cannot be taken captives. Everyone will know that lawyers will not obey.

"Ours is the profession of objection. We do not do a job where we 'behave ourselves.' You cannot explain things to us that will make us obey and bow.

"I told them, too: 'If I cannot march here now, I cannot go to İstanbul. I cannot look my colleagues in the eyes. I cannot do my job.' I told them that we would march. We finally marched. 'We are a huge army. If you do not tell us something positive until 2 p.m. today, we will call on all lawyers to come here for a "Great Defense Rally," we said to them.

"You cannot stop us. Those who calculate that we will get tired in three months or will leave after being left standing for some time should know that it is not possible. We will not go and you should know that.

'A mindset of establishing one's own bar and...'

"We are here for judicial independence. We are here to make this country a rule of law. And we know that if the judiciary is not independent, it is not possible for us to practice the profession of attorneyship.

"They are seeking for a mindset of establishing one's own bar association and arranging contacts with the judge, a mindset of setting up one's own bar and opening a debate on women subjected to violence and a bar association that will say 'such things happen' when children are abused or people are subjected to torture and ill treatment. We should not let this happen." (EKN/SD)