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Turkish Lawyers detained

AED Statement concerning the detention of the lawyers Ramazan Demir, İrfan Arasan, Ayşe Acinikli, Hüseyin Boğatekin, Şefik Çelik, Adem Çalışçı, Ayşe Başar, Tamer Doğan and Mustafa Ruzgar (16th of March 2016, Istanbul) and previously the detention of the “Academics for peace”.

Amongst the different cases related to human rights that AED/EDL (Avocats Européens Démocrates/Europeans Democratic Lawyers) follows, the situation in Turkey appears to be especially worrisome.

In the early morning of 16th of March 2016, the police broke into the private homes of several lawyers/attorneys in Istanbul. 8 of them, members of the ÖHD (Özgürlükçü Hukukçular Derneği – Association of Lawyers for Freedom), and one of them, also member of ÇHD (Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği – Progressive Lawyers Association) have been arrested on charges of terrorism: Ramazan Demir, İrfan Arasan, Ayşe Acinikli, Hüseyin Boğatekin, Şefik Çelik, Adem Çalışçı, Ayşe Başar, Tamer Doğan were taken into custody. Later, yet another lawyer was arrested: Mustafa Rüzgar.

Now, our colleagues are released and free. This is good news, although the judge issued for some of the lawyers a ban on leaving the country.

According to the information we have, there is no justification for these arrests and searches. The lawyers are accused of “working for, or belonging to a terrorist organisation.” Everything indicates that the accusations are based on their professional activities.

Neither the police officers nor the prosecutor have provided information on the grounds of the prosecution and the arrests. Lawyers have been arrested without any indictment and without access to any information concerning their arrest.

Currently, as the EU is negotiating with Turkey a common future policy, this constitutes yet another reason to refuse any attack by the Turkish State against Human Rights defenders, against lawyers, against academics, politicians and citizens who are defending a democratic change for Turkey and for Kurdistan. Anyone working for peace must not and cannot be considered a terrorist and/or member of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) because this means that for the Turkish State the only logic is repression. With such actions Turkey does not comply with the minimum standards of democracy and human rights needed to be a member of the UE.

Moreover, the latest news tell us that last week, and within only 3 days, at least 320 citizens were arrested and accused of being member of, or providing support to the PKK. This wave of arrests of journalists, academics and lawyers for Human Rights must stop.

We consider that all these facts constitute an attack on the people and an attempt to silence the opposition in Turkey. The “Academics for Peace” who signed a petition against the government criticizing the military aggressions of many Kurdish cities, have been arrested, in some cases dismissed, and in many cases punished with disciplinary measures. 3 Academics: Esra Mungan, Kıvanç Ersoy and Muzaffer Kaya were imprisoned.

For these reasons, we urge the Turkish government to:

I.- Respect the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, 1990, namely:

– to permit lawyers to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.

– to permit lawyers to travel and to consult with their clients freely both within their own country and abroad.

– and to ensure that lawyers shall not suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics.

II.- Ensure the respect of the guarantees set out in Art 6, ECHR: a fair hearing, an independent and impartial tribunal established by law and the right to be presumed innocent, to be informed promptly of the nature and cause of the accusation; and to have adequate time and the facilities for the preparation of the defence.

III.- Guarantee the separation of powers: the one element that creates most discussion and complaints is the way that in this type of cases, the members of the Court are elected by the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) dominated by the executive power. This makes impossible the independence of justice and coerces the judges and prosecutors in their work because they are subjected to the political decisions of the Ministry of Justice.

IV.- Ensure the real exercise of the freedom of expression, information and ideological freedom, that are not respected at the present time.

For the above mentioned reasons, we are going to bring these cases to the European Institutions and the European Parliament. We believe that this situation does not ensure the exercise of fundamental and civil rights as contained in the treaties signed by the Republic of Turkey. We believe that currently Turkey cannot become a member of the EU without deep democratic reforms.

Créteil, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Milano, Istanbul, Bilbo, Brussels, Berlin,

20th of March 2016,

Please download our press statement in English , French or Spanish and make it turn!

 

 

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European Lawyers report Massive Human Rights Violations in Diyarbakir (Turkey)

London/Düsseldorf, 25th January 2016

Press Release:
European Lawyers report Massive Human Rights Violations in Diyarbakir (Turkey) due to curfew –immediate international action needed

A delegation* of 10 lawyers from Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Italy visited Diyarbakir, Turkey, from 21st to 24th of January 2016 to monitor the impact of the curfew on the population. The mission was coordinated by two European lawyers’ organisations, the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH) and the European Democratic Lawyers (EDL), and also the “Unione delle Camere Penali Italiane”.

The lawyers had meetings with the bar association, human rights organizations, the chamber of doctors, families of victims, a women’s organization, the co-mayor of the city and the People’s Democratic Party. In the course of these meetings, they received reports about a dramatic situation.

In the Sur district, the ancient centre of Diyarbakir, as well as other cities and districts of the region, curfews are being imposed by the government. In Sur, the 125.000 inhabitants of 6 neighbourhoods are completely isolated by the curfew. Around 22,000 people had left the curfew areas, some of them deliberately, most of them forced by the military. People living in the area subject to curfew are not allowed to leave; exit is allowed only in rare moments when the curfew is lifted and even then subject to the arbitrary decisions of the army officers. People who leave those areas are not sure that they will be allowed to go back to their homes. On the contrary, no one who is not a resident of Sur can enter. This results also in a serious lack of transparency. No one is able to assess the real situation because no international delegation or independent person is allowed to see with his own eyes. Therefore no- one has a chance to collect evidence, participate in an autopsy etc. This makes it easy for the state to claim that; “everyone who had died was a terrorist” or was “killed by terrorists”.

The population is not properly informed about a temporary lifting of the curfew and about the time when it was re-imposed. For this reason in some cases people, among them several school-children, have been shot by military snipers because they were not aware of the restart of the curfew. The curfew in Sur has lasted already for more than 50 days, day and night. The consequence is that the basic needs of citizens of Sur are violated. They have no access to medical care; access to drinking water, food and electricity is limited. In the whole region, an estimated 1.5 million people are directly or indirectly affected by the curfews and the military atrocities.

The inhabitants of Sur are taken hostage by the military, and are subjected to ill-treatment and to extreme violence. The delegation could hear gun-fire day and night, and observed helicopters and fighter jets flying over the city and armoured vehicles patrolling the streets. The rights to education, health and health care and free movement are being violated. Houses are destroyed by the military and water pipes and electricity lines are interrupted and/or destroyed.

The Turkish government boasts to have killed hundreds of fighters. They don’t mention the hundreds of civilians, among them many children, who have been killed and wounded. Wounded people remain on the street because they are prevented from receiving medical treatment and die because of their injuries. Corpses of men, women and children remain on the streets often for many days, because their families are prevented from burying them.

Every morning, fully equipped doctors demand access to the curfew zone but are pushed back by police.

This curfew violates Turkish as well as international law. According to the Turkish constitution and the State of Emergency Law, the prerequisite for the declaration of a curfew is the declaration of a state of emergency. The Council of Ministers did not declare a State of Emergency. International human rights treaties which have been ratified by Turkey are not respected.

The lawyers call upon

  • The Turkish Government to put an immediate end to the unlawful curfew and to respect national and international law and treaties;
  • The European Institutions to do all they can to end this human tragedy. The legally questionable cooperation between the EU and Turkey against the free movement of refugees cannot justify the silence of the European Union towards the crimes, which are being committed right now in Diyarbakir, Cizre and other towns in the region;
  • The United Nations to convene urgently a meeting of the UN Security Council on the deteriorating situation of the civilians under curfew.

 

For more information, contact

Silke Studzinsky
E-mail: sist@rajus.de

Tel.: +49 (0) 177 5034907

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European Lawyers Delegation visits Diyarbakir

A delegation of European lawyers will visit Diyarbakir from 21st to 24th January 2016. The 13 participants come from Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Austria. Two European lawyers’ organisations are supporting this initiative, the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH) and the European Democratic Lawyers (EDL) and also the “Unione delle Camere Penali Italiane”

ELDH and EDL are gravely concerned about the deterioration of human rights in the region which has escalated since the Turkish government stopped the peace negotiations with the Kurdish Workers Party PKK. For many weeks now a curfew has been imposed upon several towns in the region of Diyarbakir and Şırnak and upon a great part of the centre of Diyarbakir. The Turkish government boasts that it has killed several hundred PKK fighters. It fails to mention the civilians who have also died, in particular due to the use of heavy weapons by the Turkish army inside densely populated areas of several towns. On 28th November 2015 the President of the Diyarbakir Bar Association was killed on the street when he gave a press conference asking for a peaceful solution of the conflict. In press releases ELDH and EDL condemned the murder of Tahir Elçi and demanded an international independent investigation into the circumstances.

The former judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Riza Türmen, who is now a CHP Member of Parliament, stated that the long-term military curfew constitutes a violation of state responsibility. Several victims of the curfew have complained to the ECtHR demanding an end to the military operations and the lifting of the curfew. Nevertheless the court ruled on 13th January 2016 that the evidence at its disposal was not sufficient for it to order interim measures. However the court asked the applicants to keep it informed of any further developments. Lastly, given the gravity of the situation, the Court indicated to the Government “to take any necessary steps to ensure that physically vulnerable individuals can have access to treatment if they so request”.

The European lawyers visiting Diyarbakir are going to investigate

  • the dimension and the character of the human rights violations
  • civilian casualties
  • the curfew, the number of concerned people, the impact of the curfew on the populations andif the government meets the demands of the ECtHRThe members of the delegation will talk to representatives of HDP, the Diyarbakir Bar Association, the Diyarbakir Chamber of Medicine, the Human Rights Association of Diyarbakir, a women’s association, the family of Tahir Elçi, the families of victims. They will also talk to a lawyer who represents victims of the curfew in Diyarbakir before the European Court of Human Rights.

    After their visit the lawyers will publish a report.

Download the press release.

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On the Death of Tahir Elçi

La mort de Tahir Elçi, un éminent avocat et Bâtonnier du conseil de l’ordre de Diyarbaquir en des circonstances dramatiques au District Sud d’Amed (Diyarbakir), abattu à coups de feu en pleine rue pendant une conférence de presse, constitue un assassinat politique et crime contre les Droits Humains.

Les Avocats Européens Démocrates (AED – EDL) entendent exprimer leur solidarité avec sa famille, ses amis, les militants des Droits Humains, les avocats et avocates et tous les citoyens turcs et kurdes qui ont soutenu sa lutte en Turquie contre la tyrannie et la terreur de l’État dirigée à anéantir les dissidents et des secteurs très amples de la société.

La longue trajectoire du bâtonnier de Diyarbaquir pour la défense de la paix et les Droits Humains fait de ce crime un crime contre tous les défenseurs des Droits Humains et contre les avocats et avocates engagés dans la lutte pour la défense des droits humains universels (sans distinction d’appartenance à un groupe social ou national quelconque).

Ces derniers temps nous avons vécu un dernier incident lorsque, faisant usage de son Droit à la Liberté d’expression reconnu par la Constitution Turque, Tahir Elçi avait manifesté publiquement (CNN TÜRK) son opinion politique à l’égard du conflit de l’Etat Turc avec le peuple Kurde et avait été placé en détention près le 2n Juge Pénal de la Paix de Bakirköy, accusé injustement de disséminer la propagande au nom d’une organisation terroriste (article 7/2 de la Loi Antiterroriste). L’ordre de détention d’Elçi a représenté une autre attaque acharnée en Turquie contre les Droit Humains et une nouvelle démonstration d’intimidation et de force des Tribunaux (non indépendants ) soumis et contrôlés par le pouvoir exécutif Turc. Malgré cela il a continué à lutter pour les Droits humains. Finalement il a été tué.

Schermata 2015-12-03 alle 11.27.24

La mort de notre confrère Tahir ne peut pas rester impunie.

C‘est pour cela que :

Les avocats européens démocrates demandent à tous les avocats et avocates qu’ils rendent un hommage spécial à la figure de Tahir Elçi le 23 janvier 2016, prochain jour de l’avocat menacé.

Les avocats européens démocrates exigent du Conseil des Ministres de l’Union Européenne et du Parlement Européen qu’ils s’adressent à l’État Turc à fin qu’il mette en place un système de contrôle du respect des Droits Humains pour éviter l’impunité des coupables des crimes contre l’Humanité qui se produisent continuellement en Turquie et au Kurdistan. A défaut, un soupçon de connivence avec tous ces crimes tombera à nouveau sur l’Etat Turc et son Gouvernement.

Le principe démocratique, qui est dans l’esprit de création de l’UE, lui impose la condamnation de tous les crimes commis par l’Etat Turc et les forces parapolicières et paramilitaires en Turquie et aussi l’oblige à dénoncer la guerre totale de cet État contre la liberté et les Droits Humains, en utilisant la répression contre le peuple, contre les mass media, la terreur et le meurtre brutal.

Les Avocats Européen démocrates condamnent ce terrible crime et exigent du Gouvernement Turc l’ouverture d’une enquête indépendante pour trouver les responsables directs et indirects.