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İbrahim Kaboğlu announces his candidacy for Istanbul Bar Association presidency: 'To end the interregnum'

Prof. Dr. İbrahim Kaboğlu, who was called upon by hundreds of lawyers to run for the Istanbul Bar Association presidency, has officially announced his candidacy. Kaboğlu made striking remarks while declaring his bid.

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Kaboğlu had announced that he would hold a press conference this evening following the calls he received.

A striking visual was projected onto the screen for Prof. Dr. İbrahim Kaboğlu, who was expected to announce his candidacy at this meeting.

A graphic reading 'Lawyers for Change, Istanbul Bar Association Presidential Candidate İbrahim Kaboğlu' was displayed on the screen in the hall where Kaboğlu held the meeting.

Over 100 lawyers attended Kaboğlu's announcement.

Prof. Dr. İbrahim Kaboğlu began his statement after being invited to the podium.

In his speech announcing his candidacy for the Istanbul Bar Association presidency, İbrahim Kaboğlu stated the following:

Lawyers are obligated to defend constitutional rights and powers, and they possess general knowledge of the geography; in this respect, bar associations are too important to be reduced to the framework of defense alone.

If a constitution is not respected in a country and there is a systematic violation, the first institutions affected are the bar associations, because as long as there is a constitutional violation, it means the right to a fair trial is not respected; in such an order, since the duty of defense cannot be performed, it will not be possible to defend the rights of citizens either.

In the event of such a violation, lawyers will find themselves in a position where they must defend themselves.

The Istanbul Bar Association is one of the 81 bar associations in Turkey, but it is also Turkey's bar association. It is a bar association that affects and embraces all of Turkey; looking at it from this perspective, there have been interruptions in our 146-year history, but continuity has prevailed.

Over the years, I have attended many meetings in my capacity as an educator, and outside of these, I have found myself in courthouses as a defendant; even during my time as a member of parliament, I was in courts as a defendant. The price of defending human rights in Turkey is quite heavy, so being in a courthouse as a defendant is not very abnormal.

For us to perform the legal profession with quality, there must be qualified prosecutors and judges.

We, the lawyers, we, the members of the Istanbul Bar Association, cannot remain spectators to the process of de-constitutionalization in Turkey and the darkening of society's future through the creation of disinformation. We will not allow this. I am not saying this alone; as lawyers of the Istanbul Bar Association, since we cannot remain spectators to these systematic constitutional violations, I say let us set out to end this interregnum, and may the path be clear for us all.

GROUP PHOTO WITH LAWYERS

Kaboğlu, who announced his presidential candidacy, posed for a photo with the lawyers who came to watch him after the meeting.

 

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