Court Gives Eğitim-Sen 60 Days
During the session at the 2. Labor Court in Ankara on Tuesday, Kazım Genc, the union's lawyer, asked the case to be dropped on the basis of the prosecutor not being present at the hearing.
Members of Eğitim-Sen came to Ankara and gathered at Sıhhiye Square to support the union.
Kazım Genç told Bianet, after Eğitim-Sen amended its statutes and included the said article, the Ankara Chief Prosecutor's office ruled there were no grounds for a case. He also added, there is a decision by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security that "the union's statutes do not include articles against the law".
Genç said that Eğitim-Sen does not actually 'educate' in native languages, but supports the 'right to education in one's native language' so this case should be considered under freedom of expression criteria.
According to ntvmsnbc, Genç asked the court to drop the case since there were no 'sides' as the prosecutor was not present at the hearing. Judge Kudret Kurt refused Genç's request and said the case should have been brought against the jurisprudential entity of Eğitim-Sen and not against its executives per se. He called this a 'mistake' and ordered that during the following hearings Eğitim-Sen's General Secretariat should be considered the jurisprudential entity. He also gave the union 60 days to amend its statutes and cancel the 'education in one's native language' article.
The lawyers reacted to the decision and claimed there could not be a deadline like 60 days because the defendant is changing in the case and the required jurisprudential entity is not yet the defendant.
Eğitim-Sen chairperson Alaaddin Dinçer, members of Eğitim-Sen's Executive Board and many union lawyers attended the hearing. (AB)