Associate Professor Ümit Kocasakal has been elected the new chairman of the İstanbul Bar Association after securing more than 6,000 votes cast by lawyers.
Nearly 20,000 lawyers cast a vote in the elections on Sunday. While Kocasakal received 6,080 votes, he was followed by Muammer Aydın, the former head of the association, who received 4,520 votes. Satılmış Şahin came in third with 4,055 votes and Kemal Aytaç fourth with 3,247 votes.
Kocasakal told reporters that under his chairmanship the İstanbul Bar Association will stand by law and justice without being close to any political party. “I will try my best to be the chairman of all İstanbul Bar Association members, irrespective of whether they did or did not vote for me,” he noted.
He also said the bar association would continue its fight to settle profession-related problems experienced by its members. “I will not let any member who voted for me down. I say this sincerely. The İstanbul Bar Association will stand by the fundamental principles of the republic and its unitary identity. We will stand by our profession. The İstanbul Bar Association will uphold law and justice without being close to any political party,” Kocasakal added.
There were earlier claims that Kocasakal has links to the People’s Liberation Army of Turkey (THKO), an illegal and armed Marxist terrorist organization. He is also known to be a strong opponent of the ongoing case against Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal organization accused of working to overthrow the government. He has previously criticized the arrest of many individuals on charges of membership in Ergenekon.
Dozens of people are currently under arrest, charged with being Ergenekon members. Among them are journalists, businessmen and active duty and retired members of the judiciary. Furthermore, Kocasakal has frequently targeted the former İstanbul Bar Association chairman, Aydın, over his relatively “soft” stance against the Ergenekon operation.
09 November 2010, Tuesday
TODAY’S ZAMAN İSTANBUL
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