Lawyers hold press conference at Çağlayan against CMK fee schedule

Gathering at the Çağlayan Courthouse and chanting slogans such as "A lawyer's labor cannot be exploited" and "Equal pay for equal work," Av. Handenur Dayıca and Av. Doğan Zafer Çıngı from the Lawyers' Voice Initiative (Avukatın Sesi İnisiyatifi), who read the press statement on behalf of the group, said, "The prohibition of forced labor stated in Article 18 of our Constitution is the cornerstone of our demands and our struggle. We do not accept the transformation of CMK duties into forced labor through fee schedules that promise lawyers nothing but poverty every year."

The statement included the following expressions:

"The 2025 Fee Schedule for Payments to be Made to Defense Counsel and Representatives Assigned Pursuant to the Criminal Procedure Code (CMK) was published in the Official Gazette dated February 1, 2025. It was observed that the CMK Fee Schedule published included an average increase of 40 percent. It is known by everyone that this rate of increase was determined by the political power's ministries. As the Lawyers' Voice Initiative, we are ASİ lawyers who do not accept these so-called increase rates that remain far below even the official inflation!

Today, due to the economic crisis in our country, practicing the legal profession, like many other professional groups, is becoming more difficult every day. While our colleagues are being pushed to the point of being unable to make a living, the reputation of the profession is being trampled upon.

My colleagues; we submitted the 1,000 signatures we collected from our colleagues with the demand that 'The CMK Fee Schedule be equalized with the Minimum Attorney Fee Schedule!' to the Istanbul Provincial Defterdarlık Directorate, which is the representative of the Ministry of Finance, on February 17, 2025, and demanded that the 2025 fee schedule be revised and that CMK fees be exempted from VAT. We hereby declare once again that we will follow up on this application until the very end. Furthermore, as the Lawyers' Voice Initiative, we went to Ankara just before entering 2025 and delivered these signatures to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance in person; subsequently, we carried out work in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the CMK schedule to be regulated in a way that is 'worthy of a humane life and professional dignity.' However, all these efforts of ours were ignored by the political power, and a very low rate of increase, even below the official inflation, was applied. We do not accept such a so-called increase!

We want it to be known that:

As lawyers trying to continue our professional activities under difficult conditions in Turkey, we face the risk of economic pressure and violence every day. However, without falling into any fear, without recognizing any master, and without any desire to be enslaved, we continue to practice our profession and make our voices heard. We will all together repel the impoverishment policies, economic pressure, and attacks on the citizens' right to defense carried out by the political power through CMK fees!

Dear colleagues,

The overwhelming majority of lawyers in Turkey consist of young lawyers with less than 10 years of seniority. As a result of wrong education policies in the last 15 years, the law schools opened have created a lawyer inflation in Turkey; today there are over 200 thousand lawyers in Turkey. With the inclusion of economic inflation, our country and the legal community have turned into a hell for us. We defend a professional reputation that is diametrically opposed to those who do not let the reputation of the profession fall from their tongues. We are not ashamed to say that we have economic problems, and we will not be ashamed. Those who should be ashamed are those who brought us to this situation and those who do not react to them.

In a political atmosphere where dozens of our colleagues have committed suicide or have been arrested or killed due to their duties in recent years, we are the ones who raise our voices saying, 'lawyer suicides and murders are political.' My colleagues; we are here today, most of all, for our colleague Lawyer Mert Akdoğan, who committed suicide because he was eliminated in an interview. We will keep the memory of him, our other colleagues who were driven to suicide, and our colleagues who were murdered while on duty alive in our struggle.

We have been struggling in an organized manner against the imposition of misery for over 1 year. In this struggle, there were times when we kept watch for 70 days on the stairs we are standing in front of, regardless of rain, snow, or cold. As we have done until today, we will continue to defend the honor of our profession; the rights of women, children, those who have been wronged, and the people as a whole. We will not bow down to the economic and political pressure that is intended to be placed upon us. With our struggle, we will ensure that the CMK Fee Schedule is equalized with the Minimum Attorney Fee Schedule.

With this understanding;

We importantly state that the Union of Turkish Bar Associations and the 81 provincial bar associations, especially the Istanbul Bar Association of which we are natural members, should make fighting against this injustice a priority agenda and goal. Our bar associations, as our professional organization, must pave the way for us lawyers. They must both wage the greatest struggle themselves and find ways to make our colleagues a part of this struggle. We know that all our colleagues will be proud to be a part of a struggle to be waged for our profession. Because this struggle of ours is not to gain status for someone, to get somewhere, or on behalf of a group, but for our profession and all our colleagues. Especially for our young colleagues who have just started the profession and are experiencing economic difficulties like us. We have no other purpose than these.

Therefore, we call out again to the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, the Istanbul Bar Association of which we are members, and all other provincial bar associations. 'Remaining silent is accepting this injustice, remaining silent is bowing down to this injustice.' We do not want bar associations that accept bowing down and remaining silent, but bar associations that make fighting for the problems of our profession and our colleagues their primary goal.

We, as the Lawyers' Voice Initiative, said both last year and this year; as young lawyers, we do not accept being forced to make a living with schedules below the hunger threshold for jobs that are in the nature of public service; we do not accept that the attacks we are subjected to in foreclosure locations, police stations, and courthouses remain unpunished! We know that we take our own rights by coming together. By taking our own representation into our own hands with the awareness of the independence of the legal profession and defense, we are raising our VOICE for what is our right on behalf of all young lawyers.

We also thank all our colleagues who are here today and support this call of ours with all our sincerity. Because we know that, 'There is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us.' We will grow this unity of ours. As we grow, we will get stronger, and as we get stronger, we will make our voice echo everywhere like an avalanche. We will not accept the misery wage deemed appropriate for us. Just as we have never fallen into the desire to be enslaved anywhere in history, we will not let ourselves be used as slaves now. Whoever attempts this, they will find the power, unity, and voice of us lawyers against them.

We will continue to carry out and grow the struggle we have given, based on the Constitution, for the equalization of CMK fees with the Minimum Attorney Fee Schedule and for no tax to be taken from CMK fees. We will be against the transformation of CMK assignments into forced labor, as much for the sake of our colleagues as for our citizens who need effective defense like bread and water in these days when those who speak out are arrested.

We remind you once again from here; the prohibition of forced labor stated in Article 18 of our Constitution is the cornerstone of our demands and our struggle. We do not accept the transformation of CMK duties into forced labor through fee schedules that promise lawyers nothing but poverty every year!

As long as this injustice and inequality continue, we will fight today, tomorrow, and always. We will fight so that our young colleagues are no longer driven to suicide due to financial difficulties; we will fight so that our young colleagues do not 'feel helpless and alone.' For this, we invite all our colleagues to defend their own rights first and to join our struggle.

We thank all our colleagues who have been a voice to our voice and strength to our strength for not leaving us alone today. And we call out once again; 'The CMK Fee Schedule should be equalized with the Minimum Attorney Fee Schedule!' and 'CMK fees should be exempted from tax!'"

News Source : 12punto