Lawyers marching to Ankara: 'We won't sew buttons to our robes'

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Bar association chairs of several provinces on Friday (June 19) started a march to the capital Ankara in protest of the planned changes in the Attorneys's Act and the election systems of bar associations.

Aydın Bar Association Chair Gökhan Bozkurt, Antep Bar Association Chair Bektaş Şarklı, Bursa Bar Association Chair Gürkan Altun and Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Cihan Aydın spoke to bianet on the third day of the march.

"They won't be able to silence lawyers by dividing bar associations. They won't be able to make bar associations dependent," they said.

Bozkurt: Nowhere in the world has "multiple bar associations"

After meeting with bar associations of İzmir, Manisa, Antalya, Muğla, and Denizli, Aydın Bar Association is heading to Ankara.

Aydın Bar Association Chair Gökhan Bozkurt said, "They want to take away the independence of bar associations, they want to make them dependent. They are disturbed by us raising voice against massacres of the environment, massacres of women, children's rights. They want to sew buttons to our robes, we refuse this. They won't be able to sew buttons to our robes, they won't be able to make us dependent [on them]."

Antalya, İzmir, Muğla, Manisa ve Denizli Baro Başkanlarımızla yürümeye devam ediyoruz. #SavunmaYürüyor pic.twitter.com/twJmZJdRwL

— Av.Gökhan Bozkurt (@gokhanbozkurt09) June 21, 2020

"The dividing tactics they talk about today is not the first. They had tried it five times before. They stepped back every time. We expect them to give up this time as well. Nowhere in the world has multiple bar associations. Such a thing has no place in law either.

"We are not marching for nothing, we are marching for the people the most and get the support of the people very much. Vehicles passing by are saluting us during our march. They chat with us. A couple who saw us walking even brought parcels of water to us. They said, 'We know that you are walking for us.' That made us very happy. The government does not understand but people understand."

Şarklı: People are supporting our march

Antwerp Bar Association, which is marching with Adana and Mersin bar associations, arrived in Aksaray.

Antep Bar Association Chair Bektaş Şarklı said, "Right now, our two colleagues are in a death fast for their right to a fair trial. We are talking about a country where lawyers carry out death fasts for the right to a fair trial. Think about other citizens... This is a great shame for Turkey. The society sees that the judiciary is politicized and demands an independent judiciary. And we are marching for this.

"We encounter truck drivers and shopkeepers during our march. We chat with them. Everyone expresses their complaints about economic, political, and many reasons. They say they support our march and they are with us."

Altun: They can't silence us by dividing us

Bursa Bar Association Chair Gürkan Altun is marching towards Eskişehir with Balıkesir and Bilecik Bar Associations. He will then continue with Eskişehir Bar Association to Ankara.

"We are walking for villagers, students, women, refugees, whose basic rights are taken away from them. Bar associations are a hope for all these groups. The people don't have judges, The people don't have prosecutors either. The people have lawyers, and these lawyers are the bar associations.

"Bar associations are the first to come to head during the periods of a coup, massacres of environment, problems occurred with refugees at borders. They can't silence us by diving bar associations. They can't silence hundreds of thousands of lawyers. We will continue to be the voice of people under all circumstances."

Kirazlıyayla için yürüdük, yarın hiç bir köyümüzde Kirazlıyaylada olanlar olmasın diye yürüdük! Havamız, suyumuz, içimize çektiğimiz hava satılmasın diye yürüdük! #SavunmaYürüyor https://t.co/sENvijqnCP

— Av. Gürkan Altun (@gurkanaltun16) June 20, 2020

Aydın: They want to narrow our space of activity

The Diyarbakır Bar Association is marching together with Mardin, Urfa and Van bar associations.

Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Cihan Aydın said, "Decisions about us are wanted to be made behind closed doors without the knowledge of bar associations."

"We stated that we are the addressees, a law cannot be done without our knowledge. But it was ignored. They want to narrow our space of activities. They especially want to remove two articles about human rights from the Attorneys' Act. they want to restrict our works about the needs of society. They want to pacify our struggle for human rights, democracy and the rule of law."

Ahead of the march, the bar associations took the following decisions:

• An application will be made to the Union of Bar Associations (TBB) for an extraordinary meeting.
• Bar association chairs will start a "Defense March" from their provinces to Ankara.
• Citizens' loss of rights that will occur in case the law proposal is enacted will be explained in a newspaper advertisement on June 21.
• On the day the proposal is submitted to the parliamentary committee, a "standing still" protest will be held by bar association chairs on the road to the parliament.
• Lawyers will work at the parliament for an appeal to the Constitutional Court if the law passes.
• During the examination of the application by the Constitutional Court, lawyers will "stand duty." (RT/VK)