* Headline photo: MA - Evrensel
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Police have intervened against lawyers in Ankara and Mersin while they were protesting for the release of Aysel Tuğluk today (February 18).
Diagnosed with dementia, lawyer and former MP of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Aysel Tuğluk is still held in prison. Against this backdrop, several women lawyers held protests across Turkey today, including in front of the İstanbul Bar, of which Tuğluk is a member.
In the capital city of Ankara, police intervened against the lawyers who gathered in front of the courthouse. Pushing lawyers to the revolving door, the police tore their press statement and banners. They set up barricades in front of the courthouse and a brawl ensued.
Reading out the statement behind the entrance gate of the courthouse, lawyer Nurdan Kılıç called on "all authorities who played a part in this unlawful process against Aysel Tuğluk to act in line with the law, science and conscience" and recalled that "Tuğluk must be released immediately so that her treatment can continue in a manner complying with human dignity." Concluding her remarks, Kılıç reiterated their call for solidarity.
In Turkey's southern province of Mersin, women lawyers who would also make a press statement were faced with a police intervention. The riot police officers closed the front side of the courthouse. Battering and surrounding women, they intervened with pepper spray. While some women lawyers were wounded, some had difficulty in breathing.
Meslektaşımız ve siyasetçi Aysel Tuğluk için Mersin Şubemizin Mersin Adliyesi önünde gerçekleştirmek istediği basın açıklamasına sert bir şekilde müdahale edilmiştir.
— Özgürlük için Hukukçular Derneği (@ohdgenelmerkez) February 18, 2022
Baskılar hak savunucularını yıldıramaz!#HastaMahpuslaraÖzgürlük demekten vazgeçmeyeceğiz!#SavunmayaDokunma pic.twitter.com/3xGgsS3Qli
While Mersin Bar Chair Gazi Özdemir did not support the women who wanted to make a statement, the lawyers who could not make a statement entered the courthouse and started waiting to talk to him.
* Photo: ÖHD
In Adana, women lawyers criticized the report of the Forensic Medicine Institution for being "unscientific" and requested Tuğluk's release: "We call on everyone to defend the right to life of Tuğluk and all ill prisoners. We object to what she is made to go through and request her release."
* Photo: ÖHD
The women lawyers who met in front of the Van Bar Association stressed that Aysel Tuğluk must be released immediately so that her treatment can continue in humane condition: "We call on everyone to solidarize".
* Photo: ÖHD
In Hakkari, lawyers requested that an urgent action be taken by the bar associations for Aysel Tuğluk.
* Photo: ÖHD
In İzmir, the protest was also supported by Peace Mothers. Women lawyers called on the public to be sensitive about Aysel Tuğluk and all ill prisoners. (RT/SD)
