On July 5th 2023, the Ankara Regional Appeal Court will be hearing the case of scores of lawyers who have previously been sentenced to between 6 and 12 years and served part of their respective sentences. If the appeal is dismissed, they will be facing spending another 3 to 6 years in prison.
It has nearly been 7 years since the Turkish Government started a crackdown on Turkish lawyers. Targeted lawyers are mostly with alleged links to the Gulen Movement as well as others who did not lend their absolute support to Erdogan following the failed coup attempt. More than 1600 lawyers have so far been arrested. 551 lawyers have been sentenced to a total of 3356 years in prison over terrorism-related charges, mostly for membership in a terrorist organisation. It is terrible to think that even after so long certain Turkish lawyers are still being persecuted for nothing but acting for persons associated with the Gulen Movement.
Turkish Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights enshrines the freedom of association. On the other hand, according to Articles 23-24 of the UN Basic Principles of the Role of Lawyers, lawyers are entitled to “freedom of association and assembly” and to “form and join self-governing professional associations to represent their interests, promote their continuing education and training and protect their professional integrity”. They shall have the right to join or form local, national or international organizations and attend their meetings, without suffering professional restrictions by reason of their lawful action or their membership in a lawful organization.
According to the indictment on which their convictions were based, all of the lawyers seem to be executive or ordinary members of a particular lawyers’ association, namely Hukuk & Hayat (Law & Life), which used to operate in Ankara but has since been shut down by a decree law during the state of emergency which was declared immediately after the failed coup attempt.
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