Opposition legal professionals apprehended during Turkey's crackdown efforts

In recent years, Turkey has been facing criticism for its escalating attacks on the legal profession. The European Union, human rights groups, and international coalitions of lawyers and bar associations have raised concerns over Ankara's attempts to bring the legal profession to heel.

The case against the Istanbul Bar Association's executive board is a prime example of this broader effort. Kaboglu, head of the Istanbul bar association, and his executive board are facing legal action after being dismissed in March. They are charged with spreading "terrorist propaganda" and "false information". The coalition described this case as a "direct assault" on the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law.

Twelve legal and human rights organisations have denounced the case, with the European Lawyers Association (CCBE), Amnesty International, and the International Bar Association sharply criticising the proceedings against the Istanbul Bar Association in early August 2022, labelling them a “direct attack” on the independence of the legal profession.

Several hundred lawyers have been imprisoned in recent years, according to figures provided by several associations. Ebru Timtik, a lawyer jailed for "belonging to a terror organisation", died in an Istanbul prison after a months-long hunger strike in August 2020. At least 10 defense and human rights lawyers have been jailed or arrested in Istanbul since the start of the current year.

Many of these imprisoned lawyers were accused using broadbrush anti-terror legislation widely criticized by human rights groups. Mehmet Pehlivan, a defense lawyer, was jailed after representing Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was jailed in March as part of a graft investigation. Six months after Imamoglu's jailing, there are still no formal charges against him. Pehlivan's own lawyer was arrested shortly after, denouncing the move as "intimidation".

Imamoglu's jailing triggered Turkey's worst street protests in years. Lawyers in Izmir, Turkey's third city, were detained in March during these nationwide protests. Goksel Akbaba, one of the arrested lawyers, stated that he was never told why he was arrested.

Seven lawyers in Izmir were accused of the same alleged charges as their clients. The NGO stated that the 11 lawyers in the dock are being targeted for demanding an investigation into the deaths of two Turkish journalists of Kurdish origin who were killed in northern Syria.

The distressing increase in trials involving Turkish lawyers in the past two years, according to DSF-AS (Defense Without Borders-Solidarity with Lawyers), has raised serious concerns about the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law in Turkey. The European Union denounced "serious shortcomings" in Turkey's justice system following Timtik's death. An international coalition of lawyers, bar associations, and rights groups raised an alarm over Ankara's "escalating attacks" on the legal profession in April.