Diyarbakır Bar: We Invite All Bar Associations to Diyarbakır on September 2

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The Diyarbakır Bar Association responded with a written statement to the invitation of the Supreme Court of Appeals regarding the opening ceremony of the new judicial year to be held at the presidency on September 2.

All lawyers were invited to Diyarbakır on September 2 in the statement signed by the Board of Directors of the Diyarbakır Bar Association:

"The judiciary of Turkey is experiencing the biggest crisis and loss of reputation in recent years. We are faced with the ancient Kurdish issue and the problems that are centered around it, most of which are caused by the crooked relationship of the government and judiciary and the loss of the impartiality and independence of the judiciary due to its influence.

"The Diyarbakır Bar Association has previously discussed the rights, law, justice and human rights issues of the country with its counterparts on various platforms and expressed their opinions, suggestions and criticisms openly. It will continue its efforts and initiatives with the same determination if it is possible. But it will never sit in the listener's seat, trying to button the robe. Because we are representatives of independent defense and we owe law and justice to all our peoples.

"We have recently witnessed judges committing constitutional crimes by resisting the ECtHR and the Constitutional Court decisions. The whole judiciary faces the unchecked power of the government, which disbands courts when it wants to, dismisses judges, displaces prosecutors. There is a block of power who assigns the courts when it serves its purpose and when it does not, openly says it does not recognize court verdicts, who wags a finger at and threatens the courts even before it makes a verdict.

"The judiciary is moribund. The way to recover from this Stockholm Syndrome and bring credibility to the judiciary is not to get closer to the government mentally and physically, but to walk away from the government as much as possible. We will not attend the Judicial Year Opening Ceremony held at the president's complex because we see this as contrary to this universally accepted idea.

We say from here, from Diyarbakır; there are no judges in Ankara but there are lawyers in Diyarbakır. As the Diyarbakır Bar Association, We invite all the bar associations against this lawless order to Diyarbakır on September 2 to call for justice and peace in this ancient geography where injustice, lawlessness and injustice are not missing at all, with regard to the murder of our Bar Association President Tahir Elçi and the absence of any perpetrators. (HA/VK)