Ankara Bar Association put on trial for criticizing President of Religious Affairs

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Having criticized President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş in a written statement due to his remarks targeting the LGBTI+s and HIV positive people in a Friday sermon, the Chair and executives of the Ankara Bar Association have been put on trial on charge of "insult."

While the first hearing of the trial will be held at the Ankara 16th Heavy Penal Court on November 11, 2021, the executives of the Ankara Bar now face 1 year to 2 years in prison for allegedly "insulting a public official due to his or her duty for expressing beliefs, thoughts and opinions."

After Ali Erbaş targeted the LGBTI+s and HIV positive people in his Friday sermon on April 24, 2020, the Ankara Bar Association released a press statement and criticized Ali Erbaş. The Bar also filed a criminal complaint against him on charge of "hate crime" on April 26.

However, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office concluded that "there was no ground for investigation" and said: "...President of Religious Affairs' mentioning of Islam's orders and prohibitions and his suggestions and teachings in that regard can in no way be considered crimes of 'hate and discrimination' or 'inciting the public to enmity and hatred and indignity'."

On April 27, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation against the executives of the Ankara Bar over its statement on President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş. The Presidency of Religious Affairs also filed a criminal complaint against the Bar executives.

Submitting a joint statement of defense as part of the merged investigation, the executives of the Ankara Bar Association underlined that the charge of insult did not have any ground and the right to freedom of expression was exercised in releasing the related written statement.

What happened?

In his Friday sermon (khutbah) on April 24, President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş targeted LGBTI+s and the ones living with HIV.

Erbaş briefly stated the following:

"People! Islam accepts adultery as one of the greatest harams. It curses the people of Lot, the homosexuality. What is the wisdom of this? The wisdom here is that it brings diseases and degenerates the generation. Hundreds of thousands of people a year are exposed to the HIV virus caused by this great haram, which passes as adultery in the Islamic Literature. Let's come and fight together to protect people from this kind of evil."

Several rights organizations, politicians and bar associations condemned these remarks. Both Ankara Bar Association and Human Rights Association (İHD) filed a criminal complaint against Erbaş.

Noting that Erbaş spread hate with his statements, Ankara Bar warned that "if Erbaş remained in office despite his remarks about LGBTI+s, women and children, no one should be surprised if, in his next speech, he called on people to light torches and burn women as witches at the squares."

The Bar also argued that with his statements, Ali Erbaş, "whose voice was coming from ages ago, incited the public to enmity and hatred by presiding over a state institution and building his discourse on values held sacred."

In response to this statement, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation against Ankara Bar Association on April 27. The Presidency of Religious Affairs also filed a criminal complaint against its executives on the same day.

The Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office also launched an investigation against the executives of the Diyarbakır Bar due to their statement condemning the remarks of Ali Erbaş. The executives face the possible charge of "degrading religious values." (KÖ/SD)