Istanbul Bar Association President Kaboğlu announces extraordinary general assembly for February 23!

A press conference was held at the Istanbul Bar Association headquarters. Speaking at the press conference, Istanbul Bar Association President İbrahim Kaboğlu announced that an extraordinary general assembly will be held on February 23.

Kaboğlu stated, "This meeting is not an ordinary meeting. I have held hundreds of meetings here, but a meeting like this is taking place for the first time." 

 The speech of Istanbul Bar Association President İbrahim Kaboğlu is as follows:

"This is not an ordinary meeting. This is a first. At the democratic general assembly we held on October 19-20, 2024, our colleagues who are members of the Istanbul Bar Association expressed their will and determined an administration. The meeting here today is actually the essence of the general assembly held on October 20. 

After we took over the administration on October 24, we started working on October 25. As you all know, in the two and a half months since then, in the TBMM and here, in 47 meetings and licensing ceremonies—that is, 50 times—I have taken the oath of advocacy, an oath of commitment to law, morality, the constitution, and professional ethical principles, 40 years after the second half of the 70s.

On December 22, we were met with an announcement that a prosecutor's investigation would be launched. The statement we made on December 22 was within the framework of protecting human rights and defending the rule of law, as derived from the relevant articles of the Attorneys' Law. Then, when we were invited to the courthouse on January 7, we did not give a statement, we did not make a defense. We only made a declaration.

The investigation was entirely contrary to the Attorneys' Law and the Constitution; we declared this. We applied to the Ankara Administrative Court to cancel the approval subsequently given by the Ministry of Justice. However, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, not content with conducting an investigation contrary to the Constitution and the law, has as of yesterday filed a lawsuit in the form of a 'davaname' (legal petition) for the purpose of terminating the administration that the Istanbul Bar Association determined on October 20 through the joint will of the lawyers who are members of the bar. It has been presented in a manner contrary to the Constitution, the Attorneys' Law, and the law.

This is an external intervention into bar administrations, which find their source in Article 2 of the Constitution via Article 138. It is an intervention into the democratic will of thousands of lawyers who elected the administration. It is not possible for any organ to perform an unconstitutional act in the Republic of Turkey in any way. The legislative, executive, and judicial branches are bound by our Constitution, and they must remain so. We are striving to defend the rights of the defense. We could not remain silent against this unconstitutional intervention.

I am announcing our decision to hold an extraordinary general assembly on February 23. This general assembly will announce to all citizens of the Republic of Turkey and its constitutional organs, with the support of the 66-67 thousand lawyers of the Istanbul Bar Association and all bar associations in Turkey, what democracy is and that democracy can only function and be built through the rule of law. In this respect, you are all invited to the February 23 Democracy General Assembly."