Erdoğan calls Turkish Medical Association Chair 'a terrorist', hints at new law
Photo: AA
Click to read the article in Turkish
The government should make a new law for the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and other professional organizations, President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said today (October 14).
Speaking at his party's parliamentary group, Erdoğan said the "crooked structure" of professional organizations became unsustainable. "Problems in these institutions have come to an intolerable level."
"You take someone from the terrorist organization and put them at the head of the TTB. Since when those who are involved in terrorism can head an important organization like the TTB? This is not called a democratic approach," he remarked.
"How can we send our patients to them? How will we seek a remedy from them? Can this be expected from a terrorist?" he added.
Prof. Şebnem Korur-Fincancı was elected the chair of the TTB Central Committee in early October.
An ally of Erdoğan, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli, has been calling on the government to take action against the association since last month.
"Our problem is a handful of enemies of Turkey who have nested in the central committee of the TTB. Our problem is with a small minority who praise terrorists. This is why I say the TTB should be closed," he remarked on October 6.
"Just as it has been done with the multiple bar associations system, we have to do the same work for the TTB and other professional organizations," the President further remarked.
"We have to take this step, we can't tolerate losing time. Waging a war against the nation's values, releasing declarations about issues that are not related to its field of duty can't be the duty of a professional organization," he added.
In July, the parliament passed a bill allowing the establishment of multiple bar associations in larger cities.
The Constitutional Court debate
Also making remarks on a Constitutional Court member's Twitter post that included a photograph of the court at night and said, "The lights are on," Erdoğan said it was a "very unfortunate statement."
"I wish he didn't make this unfortunate statement. This is not up to a member," he said.
The President also noted that they were not planning a snap election despite calls by the opposition.
About Şebnem Korur-FincancıProf. Dr. Şebnem Korur-Fincancı is a rights advocate and the Chair of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV). The Foundation has been involved in the documentation of the cases of torture, rehabilitation of its victims and provision of legal assistance to them. Korur-Fincancı is also one of the founding members of the Forensic Doctors' Association and has played the major role in the development of the United Nations reference standards on the investigation and documentation of the cases of torture, the Istanbul Protocol. She has conducted forensic investigations to expose torture in multiple countries and in 2014 she received the International Hrant Dink Award. She has also been one of the founders of the Turkish Penal Code Association. Devoting her professional life to the investigation and documentation of torture as well as struggle against it, Korur-Fincancı has become one of the milestones in Turkey in that regard. Preparing reports on cases of torture and writing on medical ethics in the 1990s, when torture was prevalent in Turkey, she was met with the oppression and preventions by the state. In 1997, she became the Head of Forensic Medicine Department at İstanbul University. In 2004, she was dismissed from this post. In 2005, she was reinstated by the Administrative Court and as per the decision of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK). Korur-Fincancı also participated in the Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign that was launched in solidarity with the Özgür Gündem newspaper, which was closed as per a Statutory Decree. Korur-Fincancı was arrested on June 20, 2016 for having participated in the campaign and was released on June 30, 2016. |
(DŞ/VK)