{"id":70857,"date":"2013-07-05T06:49:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T03:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=70857"},"modified":"2023-04-03T14:34:27","modified_gmt":"2023-04-03T11:34:27","slug":"new-york-city-bar-association-urges-government-of-turkey-to-end-attacks-on-lawyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2013\/07\/05\/new-york-city-bar-association-urges-government-of-turkey-to-end-attacks-on-lawyers\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Bar Association Urges Government of Turkey to End Attacks on Lawyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/h2>\n
Contact:<\/strong>
\nEric Friedman
\n\u00a0\"\"(212) 382-6754<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

Kathryn Inman
\n\u00a0\"\"(212) 382-6656<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"nycbarlogo\"<\/h2>\n

New York, June 24, 2013 \u2013 In a letter<\/span> to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan of Turkey, the New York City Bar Association expresses \u201cserious concerns regarding the maintenance of the rule of law and the targeting and detention of lawyers in Turkey following recent events there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter, prepared by the City Bar\u2019s Committee on International Human Rights and Committee on European Affairs and signed by City Bar President Carey R. Dunne, cites a June 11, 2013 incident in which a group of lawyers who were peacefully protesting at the \u00c7a\u011flayan Courthouse were \u201csurrounded by private security and the \u00c7evik Kuvvet, the Turkish riot police, and attacked: dragged on the ground, beaten and kicked. The lawyers were then handcuffed and unlawfully detained for 11 hours in a police vehicle. When the President of the Union of the Turkish Bar Association met with the acting attorney general about the attack and unlawful detention of the lawyers, the attorney general admitted that he had given the orders for the arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

This incident continues \u201ca dangerous and troubling trend of targeting lawyers in Turkey,\u201d according to the letter. \u201cPolice have previously used excessive force, including tear gas, in \u00c7a\u011flayan Courthouse and have arrested and detained members of the judiciary without charge.\u201d Moreover, as Gabriela Knaul, the United Nations\u2019 Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, has pointed out, an increasing number of Turkish lawyers are facing terrorism-related charges. \u201cIndeed, it has been reported that, since the protests began in May, lawyers have been targeted, arrested and accused of terrorism-related activities for peacefully protesting against the government. Both the European Parliament and the special rapporteur have condemned these attempts to punish peaceful opponents to its policies,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n

According to the letter, the targeting and unlawful detention of lawyers in response to their peaceful protest violates the most basic protections provided by the Turkish Constitution as well as the country\u2019s international obligations, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the United Nations\u2019 Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, which states that lawyers should be able to perform their functions \u201cwithout intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the letter, the City Bar echoes the European Parliament\u2019s concerns in a June 13 resolution about \u201cdisproportionate and excessive use of force by the Turkish police in its response to the peaceful and legitimate protests,\u201d and joins the European Parliament in calling on the Turkish Government to \u201cimmediate[ly] release [] all peaceful protestors taken into custody and currently detained\u201d and to ensure that \u201call detainees have unrestricted access to lawyers of their choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter concludes: \u201cThe Association respectfully urges you to investigate and end the attacks on lawyers, which have been committed through intimidation, violence and unlawful means. These steps are required under both domestic and international law to maintain the legitimacy of Turkey\u2019s democratic institutions, and to demonstrate your commitment to the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter can be read here: <\/span>
\nAbout the Association<\/strong>
\nThe New York City Bar Association, since its founding in 1870, has been dedicated to maintaining the high ethical standards of the legal profession, promoting reform of the law and access to justice, and providing service to the profession and the public. The Association, through its 24,000 members, continues to work for political, legal and social reform, while implementing innovative means to help the disadvantaged. Protecting the public\u2019s welfare remains one of the Association\u2019s highest priorities. www.nycbar.org<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 New York City Bar Association. All rights reserved. | 42 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036 | \u00a0\"\"(212) 382.6600<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Eric Friedman \u00a0(212) 382-6754\u00a0 Kathryn Inman \u00a0(212) 382-6656\u00a0 New York, June 24, 2013 \u2013 In a letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan of Turkey, the New York City Bar Association expresses \u201cserious concerns regarding the maintenance of the rule of law and the targeting and detention of lawyers in Turkey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":50556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}