30 Bar Associations Call for HSK Members' Resignation

Independence of the judiciary is regulated in a strict manner in Article 138 of the Constitution: "Judges shall be independent in the execution of their duties; they shall give judgment in accordance with the Constitution, laws, and their personal conviction conforming to the law. No organ, authority, office or individual may give orders or instructions to courts or judges relating to the exercise of judicial power, send them circulars, or make recommendations or suggestions. No questions shall be asked, debates held, or statements made in the Legislative Assembly relating to the exercise of judicial power concerning a case under trial. Legislative and executive organs and the administration shall comply with court decisions; these organs and the administration shall neither alter them in any respect, nor delay their execution."

The fact that HSK took such an action, particularly in the aftermath of the acquittal verdict - as we have seen previously in other cases - despite the open provision of the Constitution, clearly exerts pressure on court judges rendering similar duties and constitutes an explicit violation of the Constitution. Furthermore, the impression that such a violation took place under the manipulation of the political government is much graver.

To be able to talk about a state governed by the rule of law; we would like to emphasize, once again, the need to respect the right to a fair trial, security of tenure of judges and prosecutors, natural judge principle, presumption of innocence, protection of freedoms of thought and expression through the judiciary, as well as compliance with the universal norms of law and international conventions signed by Turkey.

In this mainframe, if HSK has indeed granted an authorization for investigation into these judges solely for the [acquittal] judgement they handed down, then we hereby call on the relevant HSK members to resign and we would like our call to go down in history.

Respectfully announced to the public opinion.

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Bar associations of Adana, Amasya, Ankara, Ardahan, Artvin, Aydın, Bilecik, Balıkesir, Bingöl, Burdur, Bursa, Çanakkale, Diyarbakır, Denizli, Düzce, Gaziantep, Hatay, Isparta, Kırklareli, Kocaeli, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Muğla, Ordu, Şanlıurfa, Tekirdağ, Tunceli, Van and Yalova