‘Let Their Demand for Justice be Heard So That Timtik and Ünsal Can Live’

Click to read the article in Turkish

Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal... They are two arrested lawyers. They have been on a death fast for their right to a fair trial.

In 2017, the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) and People's Law Bureau (HHB) were raided by the police, several lawyers were detained and arrested. Timtik and Ünsal were among them.

Charged with "membership of a terrorist organization" and "leading an organization," 18 lawyers were sentenced to 159 years, 1 month, 30 days in prison in total. While Timtik was sentenced to 13 years, 6 months for "membership," Ünsal was sentenced to 10 years, 6 months.

As their sentences were upheld by the Court of Appeals, an application has been made to the Court of Cassation for them.

Lawyers Timtik and Ünsal went on a hunger strike to raise their voices for their right to a fair trial. Timtik turned her hunger strike into a death fast on the 94th day while Ünsal turned his strike into a fast on the 63rd day.

Ünsal is held in Burhaniye Type T Prison in Balıkesir and Timtik is held in Silivri No. 9 Prison in the outskirts of İstanbul.

Petition launched for lawyers

Their colleagues summarize the demands of lawyers as follows: "The withdrawal of political instructions from their trial and a legal judgement to be handed in the file examined by the Court of Cassation."

Timtik and Ünsal also demand their right to a fair trial, "which will be ensured when the unlawful judgement is overturned and they are released from prison." A petition has also been launched for them.

Click here to sign the petition (in Turkish)

Lawyers Güçlü Sevimli and Yaprak Türkmen and law apprentice Naim Feyzullah Eminoğlu from the ÇHD have spoken to bianet about their arrested death fasting colleagues Aytaç Ünsal and Ebru Timtik.

'Ebru has dropped to 46 kilos'

Güçlü Sevimli: "Lawyer Ebru Timtik is a colleague and friend of mine. She has been on a death fast for 144 days now. I visited her in prison yesterday. She has dropped to 46 kilos. But she was hale and excited. As she always is... My friend... She is always excited, always full of hope and enthusiasm...

"Ebru is really good at reading poems. She has a really good voice, she makes the best of it when she sings folk songs from any part of Anatolia. She recites any poem, sings any song and writes or reads any text in her own way. It is as if she expresses her sincerity like that.

"It is also how she performs her profession. In every petition she pens, in every defense she makes... You can see her sincerity, devotion and enthusiasm in all of them. I have been a witness to all of this for 15 years.

"She has laid herself to death for the notion of 'justice', which she has put at the very center of her activity and practice of attorneyship. She has a single demand: Justice. May her demand and call for justice be heard. May it be heard so that Ebru Timtik can live."

'We practice our profession in collective life'

Yaprak Türkmen: "Yes, we rush to help our people without waiting for something in return or prioritizing material things. Just as these people that we hold dear stand with us in our difficult days.

"In other words, we do not perform our profession of attorneyship for anyone, we practice our profession in a collective way of life.

"Once, we were on our way to prison with the family of a client. The father told me that he had something to ask me. I said, 'Sure.' We were closer as we were in İstanbul. Aytaç was a lawyer based in Ankara, he would come to İstanbul from time to time. The father said, 'We were with Mr. Ünsal the other day, his coat was ripped off. I felt like buying him a new coat and told him that, but I could not persuade him no matter what I said.'

"Aytaç told him that 'he had another coat, only the one that he was wearing was ripped off.' In fact, I knew that Aytaç did not have another coat, it was his usual coat that he always had on him. 'He is right,' I told the father, 'He must have another coat, don't worry about it.'

"When the deceased body of baby Aylan washed ashore was first broadcast on televisions, we were having lunch at the table in the office. Our eyes were filled with tears. With his eyes crystal clear, he was expressing his rage. I could not stand it and left the table.

"And sister Ebru... What can I tell you about her? About her sincere, but not hurtful embrace or her efforts to create the optimum conditions to have a chat? Or should I tell you about how hard a struggle lies behind everything that she does for you or your ease in telling what you think even though you are not on the same page? Or maybe I should tell you how she frowns when she speaks her mind and says what needs to be done or what not..."

'They resist for all of us'

Naim Feyzullah Eminoğlu: "Even though I was also behind bars, it was thanks to the accounts of Aytaç Ünsal that I witnessed the trial where several unlawful acts were committed and Aytaç Ünsal, Ebru Timtik and arrested ÇHD lawyers were sentenced to 159 years in total.

"Before the hearings, we would set up a court board and make rehearsals. Other people arrested on the basis of anonymous witness statements used to share the same living space with me. In order to help out those people and make the rehearsals more realistic, Aytaç Ünsal would play the role of the judge, ask questions to press them. Another one would act like a judge that sleeps all the time and does not listen to what the defendant says.

"And, as for me, I would take up the role of a prosecutor and constantly say, 'I demand the rejection of the lawyers' and defendants' request.'

"Depending on whose hearing was approaching, the roles would change. I remember that the rehearsals were quite fun and joyful. In fact, when I think about it now, the rehearsals that we made back than were way better than the courts today. Moreover, it would be difficult to pose as the court boards that are so bad to be even called a play.

"To make a long story short, I remember every moment that I spent with Aytaç Ünsal in prison more in these days.

"I know quite well what he lives and what we live. And this protest of hunger is staged against the courts where justice and law, which 'we had difficulties in posing before the hearings', are no more. The courts have apparently become the 'fascis' (*) of the government and our dear colleagues are resisting against all this mass of injustice on behalf of all of us.

"The attacks targeting the profession of attorneyship are known by all. But, this protest of hunger is not done to solely defend the profession. It is also done for and on behalf of every single citizen living in Anatolia. That is why, keeping our colleagues alive is in 'our' hands." (EMK/SD)