Ankara Bar Association No. 2 comments on Istanbul Bar Association ruling: We support it

In a written statement issued by the Board of Directors of the Ankara Bar Association No. 2, it was recalled that İbrahim Kaboğlu, who was elected President of the Istanbul Bar Association in the election held on October 20, 2024, had made statements regarding the first 4 articles of the Constitution, that the bar association had held the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and the Republic of Turkey responsible for the deaths of Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin in Syria, and that a "terrorism investigation" had been launched into the bar association following these developments.

The statement, which recalled that the Istanbul 2nd Civil Court of First Instance announced its decision at the hearing held today in the case filed with the indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, ruling for the removal of the bar administration from office, included the following remarks:

"We support the court's decision. It is unthinkable that individuals who were elected as president and board members with votes representing not even 10 percent of the approximately 65 thousand lawyers registered with the Istanbul Bar Association represent the entire bar as the Istanbul Bar Association. These frustrating situations, which are followed with astonishment, are neither the first nor the last at the Istanbul Bar Association. When our martyr of duty, Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, was martyred by DHKP-C militants, did the Istanbul Bar Association not act as a defender of the murderers? Did it not challenge [the state] by hanging posters?"

"IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR US TO ACCEPT THE TBB'S STATEMENT"

In the statement, which posed the questions of "why the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) did not take preventive measures against the complicity of bar associations in crimes" and "why it did not take action against bar associations that commit crimes," the following was noted:

"It is not possible for us to accept the statement made by the TBB on March 20, 2025. The decision rendered regarding the Istanbul Bar Association and its administrators is, if you will pardon the expression, the state reminding itself to those who think the field is empty; it is an aid to restoring memories. Everyone must know their place. It does not matter where or to which office we are elected. No one is above the state and the law; no one has immunity or is beyond prosecution. In the offices we are elected to, one must produce solutions to the problems of our profession and work with all one's might for the establishment of justice."

"WE INVITE EVERYONE TO COMMON SENSE"

The statement, which indicated that efforts to disrupt corruption and terrorism investigations into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) mean "attempting to disturb Turkey's internal peace and atmosphere of tranquility, inciting the public to hatred and hostility, and challenging the law and the Constitution," included the following:

"The effort to disrupt legal matters with claims of a 'civil coup' and the attempt to invite the public to the streets is an overt attack on the state's sovereign character, as well as the security of law and democracy. It would be of very serious benefit for everyone to know that we will stand by our state to the end in the face of these attacks. We invite everyone to calm and common sense. In the spiritual peace of the month of Ramadan, as the Turkish nation, which is a human treasure integrated with the Nevruz holiday and the goal of a Turkey without terrorism, we must collectively protect our future and the sacred legacies of the past as one heart."

News Source: AA