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/

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.

With Turkey’s increasingly divisive and destabilizing influence in the Middle East, the region’s biggest concern for the West yet could be President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s burgeoning Islamist tendencies. In order to understand the Turkish role in the threat of ISIS, borne from the Muslim Brotherhood, it is necessary to rewind six years.

2014 marked the year when ISIS became a very real threat to the Middle East; within one year it had managed to take over a third of Iraq and half of Syria, employing 200,000 fighters in its control. ISIS quickly became successful in producing oil and selling it as an important source of income, not to mention that it was able to ensure a constant supply of weapons, ammunition, vehicles and advanced communication devices.

The question is, how was it possible for ISIS to become a functioning state so quickly? With its increasing connections to Turkey over the years, whether through its oil industry or housing wanted members of the Muslim Brotherhood, this “neighborly” relationship is one that is repeatedly examined for consequences and decisions that Turkey is instrumental in today.

Since 2002, Turkey has been ruled by Erdogan, a vocal supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. As a movement that seeks to establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate that applies Islamic Sharia law, instead of man-made laws, the Muslim Brotherhood has been linked to many fundamental Islamist organizations, coinciding with the fact that Erdogan has neglected to launch counterterror operations to disrupt ISIS’s networks or recruitment activities, since its inception. Its presence has been most felt in the following areas:
Money In 2014, it was reported that ISIS had taken over oil fields in Iraq and Syria and produced large quantities of crude oil to sell, consolidating its grip on oil supplies in the region. They are thought to have transported the oil to Turkey in tankers, with Turkey selling the oil to other countries as if it were from Iraq and Syria, sharing some of the proceeds with ISIS. These oil exports were stopped in December 2015 following a Russian bombing of these tankers, but not before ISIS received millions from oil exports through Turkey. It seems pertinent to mention that Erdogan’s family was also involved in the oil business with ISIS.
Volunteers Thousands of Muslim volunteers who identified with the goals and methods of ISIS went to the Islamic State from Islamic countries, Europe, America, Africa, Australia and even Israel. The vast majority of them arrived legally in Turkey, and from there went on to Syria and Iraq. The Turkish authorities, aware that these volunteers were passing through Turkey, did nothing to stop it. In June 2014, Turkish interior minister Muammar Guler even admitted that Hatay was a strategic location for the Mujahidin crossing to Syria and that logistical support for Islamist groups would be increased in this area.
Tactics It has been widely reported that Turkey’s Intelligence Agency illegally dispatched arms to Syrian jihadists. In August 2014, an ISIS commander told The Washington Post: “Most of the fighters who joined us at the beginning of the war came via Turkey, as did our equipment and supplies.”

Turkey also allowed ISIS forces to use its territory to surprise their opponents with attacks from within Turkey. ISIS forces could have not entered or left Turkey freely without the consent of the Turkish government. Anti-Assad activists reported that ISIS was attacking them from inside Turkey, and a senior Egyptian official indicated in October 2014 that Turkish intelligence was passing satellite imagery and other data to ISIS.

In summary, Erdogan’s reluctance to take a step back and denounce ISIS’ methods of operation has, in part, led to the assumption that Turkey ceased to assist ISIS primarily because of the pressure exerted on it by Russia, the US and Europe, instead of an outright rejection of the ideology.

With the increasing parallels drawn between the Islamist extremism of Turkey and Iran, and repeated criticism directed at former US president Barack Obama for being soft on Islamist forces in the region, the US and EU in particular will have a part to play in deciding what kind of a role they assume in the Middle East.

To this day, Turkey is seen to be under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood doctrine which underpins the continued flourishing of ISIS and shows a lack of concern for their damaging actions.

With that said, it is becoming undeniably harder for Erdogan to hide behind his NATO membership as he draws a foreign policy that has inevitably become less Western-oriented and more EU- and US-hostile – a far cry from the political reforms that were once promised for a democratic transition in Turkey. This will have consequences for the country’s regional and international relations as it becomes less and less of a reliable security partner, especially if it chooses to work increasingly with those who fight against the West.
Source: www.jpost.com/opinion/turkeys-relationship-
with-isis-proves-its-deserting-its-european-allies-643187

Turkish soldiers tortured two Kurdish villagers they had detained, throwing them from a helicopter after battering them, eyewitnesses claim.
A medical report for one of the villagers states that he suffered injuries consistent with a fall from a height.

Military forces reportedly detained Osman Şiban, 50, and Servet Turgut, 55, on Sept. 11 while working on a farm in the eastern city of Van.

According to a parliamentary question directed to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu by Murat Sarısaç, a deputy from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, the villagers were detained by soldiers and taken away in a helicopter, then were admitted to a hospital in serious condition two days after their detention.

The soldiers interrogated the two villagers under torture and threw them from the helicopter, Sarısaç claims, citing their families. The two were put in intensive care. Şiban was discharged on Friday but is reportedly suffering from memory loss due to his injuries, while Turgut is still in intensive care.

The Mezopotamya news agency tweeted a photo of Şiban with bloodshot eyes and bruises on his face. Lawyers for the villagers filed a criminal complaint against the soldiers, Mezopotamya reported.

According to the report villagers on the scene while the two were being detained allege that the soldiers threatened to shoot them when they protested the detention.

After a one-month judiciary recess, legal proceedings resumed in Turkey under the shadow of the coronavirus. The number of coronavirus cases and deaths are once again on the rise in the country.

Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül stated that strict measures will be taken against the coronavirus in courthouses and that the judicial videoconferencing system SEGBİS will be used widely in hearings.

Trials were suspended in August due to the judiciary recess; however, attempts to bring journalists into line continued under violent forms.

Investigations and interrogations against journalists continued, and incidents of psychological and physical violence increased at the same pace.

In August, at least 15 journalists were subjected to psychological and physical violence:

During a row in CHP’s İzmir Province Youth Branch Congress, 6 journalists covering the incident were assaulted. First two groups fought with each other, before targeting the journalists. Journalists were prevented from taking footage and then battered. One journalist’s phone was confiscated, the computer of another was broken, and a chair was hurled at another’s head. One journalist obtained a legal medical report for battery and filed a criminal compliant.

İzmir Association of Journalists, İzmir Young Journalists Platform and Progressive Journalists Association’s İzmir Branch jointly organized a press conference to condemn the incident and demanded an investigation to be initiated. CHP’s İzmir branch leaders paid a visit to the Association of Journalists to apologize. Furthermore, they announced that they had established an investigative committee to identify the assailants, initiate disciplinary procedures, and shed further light on the event.

• Journalist Cengiz Anıl Bölükbaş, working for Evrensel Newspaper’s Diyarbakır Office, indicated that on August 24th, 2020, he was withheld in a shop by three individuals, who claimed to be police officers and attempted to “convince” him to become a police informant, after listing detailed information on him, his family and professional activities.

• A member of MHP’s Central Executive Committee, Osman Şişman threatened journalist Şirin Payzın, by posting the obituary of Payzın’s father, along with the words, “Chased from the nightingale’s nest, you are wallowing in sewers on the other side of the river; you will soon face THE END (sic) for what you have done and will do against the Turkish fatherland; as the Turk’s roots strangle you, you will go mad, gasping for air.”

• Yıldıray Çiçek, an advisor to the MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli threatened Karar Newspaper’s columnist Ahmet Taşgetiren, saying “The nationalists have not yet forgotten your insults and calumnies… Someone may pluck off your beard, watch out…”

• Journalist Gökhan Özbek stated on his social media account that the police raided his home, saying “The police searched my house. They claim to have received a tip-off. They have left now. I opened the door after seeing their police IDs”.

• Kanal D correspondent İbrahim Konar and cameraman Volkan Kamber were assaulted physically while following a news story, and their technical equipment was smashed. The journalists filed a criminal complaint.

• The owner of the news web site “Haber Ünye Portalı” published in Ünye, Ordu, Samet Girme stated that he was battered for 40 minutes by two individuals, who asked him “Why do you write pieces against Hilmi Güler?”, before inserting a gun’s barrel in his mouth. Girmeç filed a lawsuit against the mayor of the Ordu Metropolitan Municipality, on the charge of “incitement to crime”, and against the two assailants on charges of “willful injury, threat, insult, violation of liberty”.

• The owner of Yörem Newspaper published in Karacabey, Bursa, Şaban Önen, was assaulted by 4 individuals in the parking lot of the Municipal Truck Garage. It was claimed that the assailants were the relatives of the district mayor.

• In Antalya, unidentified assailants opened fire on journalist Yakup Kocabaş’s home.

At least 8 journalists were detained or summoned to testify; faced lawsuits, investigations and/or criminal complaints:

• In Batman, an investigation was launched against İdris Yayla, one of the first journalists to report on the specialized sergeant Musa Orhan’s sexual assault on the 18-year-old İpek E. Journalist İdris Yayla stated that, at the police station, he was asked questions such as “Why did you pen such a news story? Why did you post it on social media?” and that “he was prevented from contacting the family and investigating the incident while following the story.”

• Journalist Mehmet Erol was summoned to testify by the police due to social media posts by Democratic Regions Party (DBP), where he used to work as media advisor. Erol had previously been tried and acquitted for the same matter. In the statement which he gave while being accompanied by his lawyer, Erol refused the accusations saying that the posts in question were shared after he resigned from his position at DBP.

• In the first weeks of the coronavirus outbreak, the government had launched the donation campaign titled “Biz bize yeteriz Türkiyem” (“Turkey can take care of its own”) and published IBAN numbers for bank transfers. Journalist Hakan Aygün had criticized the campaign with a social media post that read “Oh, those who believe in IBAN”, and was arrested for ”inciting the population to hatred and enmity, or humiliating the people”. Although he was released at the first hearing, a separate indictment was drafted against him and the two cases were merged. Aygün was detained a second time for the same matter and released after a police interrogation.

• Journalist Eylem Akdağ was taken into custody in Ankara, while following the protests against the government’s attempt to withdraw Turkey from the İstanbul Convention.

• Author Sebahattin Önkibar stated that President Erdoğan filed a lawsuit against him on allegations of insulting him in a YouTube video.

• A lawsuit was filed against journalist Can Ataklı who, in his program titled ‘Gün Başlıyor’ on Tele 1 TV, asked how the taxes collected for earthquake preparedness were spent. He faces 1 year 2 months to 4 years 8 months in prison.

• A lawsuit was filed against Rize Nabız Newspaper’s Concessionaire and Rize Branch President of Progressive Journalists Association (ÇGD) Gençağa Karafazlı, for his news story on “President of AKP’s Rize Province Assembly and his wife, who were acquitted from charges of membership to FETÖ, before being offered jobs in a state-owned bank,” with 50 thousand TL claimed for damages. Access bans were placed on the news story in question, and on news stories about the access ban on the news story.

CHP’s İzmir deputy and Chief Media and Corporate Communications Advisor to the Party Chairman, Tuncay Özkan announced that he would file a lawsuit against Süleyman Özışık, who made various claims about him in an article published on Türkiye Newspaper.

Separately, Özgür Boğatekin, an editor and writer with Adıyaman Gerger Fırat Newspaper, had been tried for 4 of his articles criticizing the Gerger District Governor of the period, and sentenced in 2015 to 1 year 15 days in prison on the charge of “successive slander”. He had appealed against the verdict. 5 years on, the Court of Cassation has upheld the sentence. Boğatekin was placed in prison. However, on the next day, the reinforcement of the sentence was deferred due to coronavirus measures, and he was released.

Although most hearings were suspended in August due to the judiciary recess, the 29th hearing of the trial against Mehmet Baransu -in prison since March 2015- and Ahmet Altan, Yasemin Çongar and Yıldıray Oğur took place.

These journalists stand trial for the news stories published in the now shuttered Taraf Newspaper in 2010, where it was claimed that “Some groups within Turkish Armed Forces planned a coup in 2003”.

Baransu faces 35 to 75 years in prison, while Altan, Çongar and Oğur each face 20 years to 52 years 6 months in prison.

The prosecutor is expected to present his opinion as to the accusations in the next hearing scheduled for October.

In September 60 journalists will appear in court in 7 provinces in Turkey.
(This report has been written by Press in Arrest editor Yeşim Yavuzer.)

(09/185) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison…

It is learned from the news coverage of September 17, 2020 that, 6 prisoners in Sincan Prison are transferred to other prisons under coercion. Names of prisoners and prisons they are transferred to are: Mahmut Konuk (Adana Kürkçüler F Type Prison), Acun Karadağ and Alev Şahin (Kayseri Bünyan Women’s Closed Prison), Nazan Bozkurt (Gebze Women’s Prison), Mehmet Dersulu (Bolu F Type Prison) and Armağan Özbaş (Kırıkkale Keskin Prison). 6 people who were participators of “I Want My Job Back” protests in Yüksel Street, Ankara, were detained on August 13, 2020 and were arrested on August 22, 2020.

(09/186) Allegation of Torture and Ill-Treatment Under Custody in Van…

On September 11, 2020, 2 people (Osman Şiban and Servet Turgut) were detained by soldiers in Çığlıca hamlet of Çatak district of Van, and they were taken away by helicopter. It was found out 2 days later that, they were admitted in intensive care unit of Van Regional Education and Research Hospital. It is learned from the news coverage of September 17, 2020 that Osman Şiban was discharged from intensive care unit and has memory loss. The news reports cover photographs of Osman Şiban at hospital, with blood and bruises in his eyes. Osman Şiban was given a medical report from a hospital he was taken on September 11, 2020 which states blood coming from his digestive canal besides eye bruises, and trauma caused swellings on head, neck and face.

(09/094) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison…
Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), Association of Families of Prisoners (TUHAY-DER) and Van Bar Association declared their report about Patnos L Type Prison on September 9, 2020. It is learned from the report that 17 prisoners are kept in wards for 8 people, and 24 prisoners are kept in wards for 15 people. It is also stated in the report that prisoners are not given cleaning supplies for protection form Covid-19 pandemic; the water given to them is dirty; social and sport rights are prevented; newspapers asked by prisoners are not given to them, and their petitions are not pun into process.

It is learned from the news coverage of September 9, 2020 that prisoners in Diyarbakır Women’s Closed Prison are forced to wear double handcuffs during transfers to hospitals, courthouses, etc.; surveillance cameras in prison are recording bathrooms and toilettes; and prisoners are subjected to strip search at prison administration.

(09/079) Torture and Ill-Treatment Under Custody in Uşak…
It is learned from the news coverage of September 8, 2020 that 27 people who were detained through an Uşak based investigation on August 31, 2020; were subjected to strip search and psychological pressure through interrogations called “private interview”. 22 of detained people were released with a ban on leaving the country while 5 of them were arrested on September 4, 2020.

(09/069) People Detained and Subjected to Torture and Ill-Treatment of Police in Şırnak…
On September 7, 2020, 3 people (İbrahim Kızılkaya, Resul Vesek and Abdulmütalip Tetik) are detained in house raids in Cizre district of Şırnak. The surveillance camera records of Abdulmütalip Tetik’s house which are covered by media, shows special operations police officers with long barrelled weapons and snow masks on their faces raiding the house, forcing Kahraman Tetik, the person who opens the door, to knee down at the door and a police officer kicking him at his waist while another police officer getting out of the house and kicking him at his back.

(09/050) Torture and Ill-Treatment Under Custody in Istanbul…
It is learned from the news coverage of September 4, 2020 that, 18 people who were detained in police intervention to the press declaration for International Day of Peace on September 1, 2020 in Sarıgazi neighbourhood of Sancaktepe district of Istanbul, were subjected to torture and ill-treatment at Sancaktepe Police Station.

18 people were released on September 2, 2020 with a ban on leaving the country and on judicial control conditions. Detained people were: Metin Özken, Volkan Atmaca, Hakan Salman, Fırat Çağlar, Başak Yeşilot, Umut Doğan, Ulaş Serdar Budak, Beyza Çapar, Doğukan Uçan, Bünyamin Abay, Sedef Özer, Devrim Ürün, Eren Kaya, Beritan Kurt, Fırat Doğan.

(09/049) Torture and Ill-Treatment Under Custody in Urfa…
It is learned from the news coverage of September 6, 2020 that, 3 people (Hamdullah Esen, Tayip Temel and Mehmet Sait Yardımcı) who were detained on the charges of ‘being an illegal organisation member’ and ‘aiding to an illegal organisation’ in Viranşehir district of Urfa on September 4, 2020, were subjected to torture and ill-treatment at Anti-Terror Department of Diyarbakır Security Directorate.

Sezai Akın, lawyer of Mehmet Sait Yardımcı stated that his client’s clothes’ were torn, and there were blood marks on them while his body had bruises at the time when he could meet his client. It is reported that Hamdullah Esen and Tayip Temel were not allowed to see their lawyers.

(09/013) People Subjected to Torture and Ill-Treatment of Gendarmerie in Edirne…
It is learned that 2 people (İsa Sefa and Halis Güven) who were detained by gendarmerie, in Edirne on August 30, 2020, in allegation of illegal attempt to flee, were subjected to torture and ill-treatment under custody. It is reported that 2 people were injured at their faces and bodies.

It is learned that 2 people got a medical report evidencing the physical violence and will make a criminal complaint against officers on duty.

One of these 2 people, İsa Sefa, is arrested by the court on the charge of ‘border violation’ on September 1, 2020, while Halis Güven is still under custody.

(09/011) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison…
It is learned from the news coverage of September 1, 2020 that, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş was not allowed to have a non-contact visit with his children at Edirne F Type Prison, on the grounds of precautions for Covid-19 pandemic.

(09/002) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison…
It is learned from the news coverage of August 31, 2020 that in Hatay T Type Prison, wards are over-capacity and the food given to prisoners is not enough.

Source: https://en.tihv.org.tr/