Turquie : l'Union des barreaux de Turquie dénonce les atteintes à la démocratie

February 28, 2014
Mr Aldo BULGARELLI
President
Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe
Rue Joseph II, 40 – 1000
Bruxelles – BELGIUM
Dear President Bulgarelli,
Turkey is going through a twilight zone that it will never forget in the history of democracy. I
take it as my duty to share the suggestions I have come up with about how we can emerge
into the daylight in the light of the universal principles of justice. Please read and evaluate
this text from this perspective...
My thoughts about the tape claimed to be of a telephone conversation between the Prime
Minister and his son, and the lessons we, the political power and the opposition should take
from these incidents... I'll tell first what I'd say last. I want you to read the remaining part of
this text in the light of this last paragraph: In this country, the fundamental rights come to
the fore only when the Prime Minister and the Ministers are hurt and as limited only to
them. The fundamental rights of the thousands of families and millions of "potential criminal"
(!) citizens, whose lives are made miserable with secret witnesses, montage voice recordings
that are not supported with material evidences, with fake digital data, the manipulating
"information" leaked by the police and prosecution offices to the media, with the inextricable
consolidation of dozens of unrelated legal actions, with arbitrary arrest warrants, unfounded
and contradictory convictions, of which justifications are tried to be formed after they are
announced, are ignored; the "innocent" cries of the citizens who scream, "I wasn't there"
make no sense at all for the deaf ears, blind eyes and the stone hearts. Our country in which
criticizing the political power has begun to be equated with the membership in a terrorist
organization has become the country with the highest number of terrorists (!) in the world.
Lawyers, journalists, trade unionists, academics, scientists and military officers make up the
most intellectual and qualified terrorist (!) portfolio of all times.
While the politics is shaped by the hidden cameras installed in the bedrooms, those who
utilize these images captured by these cameras as a political tool and cry out "it is not
private, but public life, all in public" let fly at the voice recordings claimed to belong to them.
Unfortunately, the opposition builds its politics on these recordings as well. Have you realized
that the citizenship of millions of our citizens is tried to be reduced to possessing an identity
card and a Republic of Turkey ID Card no? Our legal security, peace and right to look to the
Address: Oğuzlar Mah.Barış Manço Cad. Av. Özdemir Özok Sokağı No:8 06520 Balgat/Ankara/TURKEY
Tel : +90 312 292 59 00 – Fax : +90 312 286 31 00
web : www.barobirlik.org.tr e-mail : utba@barobirlik..org.tr

February 28, 2014
future with confidence are taken away. Our obligation to produce projects for social justice,
social security, and uninsured and unorganized workers, civil servants, housewives,
craftsmen, farmers, forest villagers, local and foreign investors, and many others are not
fulfilled in this environment where it is unclear who hits whom with what. Our people are
squeezed between the illusions and brutality of reality. As a result, Turkey that is the most
beautiful country of the world is transformed into a nightmare and a place where it becomes
increasingly more difficult to live for our citizens. It is now the task of the citizens to let all
political parties know that it is time to wake up from the nightmare and what the method of
awakening is. Now, let's take a quick look at my notes:
1. The conversation is claimed to be between the Prime Minister and his son.
2. The Prime Ministry claims the recording is a montage.
3. All newspapers and political parties have taken defence, attack or counter-attack position
according to the perspective they have adopted.
4. It is clear that unrecorded hundreds of millions of euros that are of unknown origin and
kept at home are mentioned in the conversion. The mentioned figures contain more zeros
than we can count of.
5. The following question comes to mind: Although that the Party sharing the ruling power
and the Gülen Movement wiretap, monitor and keep records of each other and whoever
they want is spoken by everyone in the street, is it possible that a conversation with such
context took place in the morning when an operation was carried out against the children of
the ministers between the speaking persons in spite of the fact that they must suspect that
they could be wiretapped? (Or do the new high-tech cryptographic phones etc. create such a
self-confidence?)
6. This question that comes to mind has probably been asked by the thousands of our
ordinary citizens whose lives have been ruined by the voice recordings up until now during
their trials to the courts. They spoke of the disconnections in the conversation, montages,
slanders and that the content of the conversation was not supported with material
evidences. However, their pleadings and all requests related to defence run into the stone
walls of the court. Because of my respect for them, I will not ask the question that comes to
my mind and won't take any notice of the pleadings such as "contrary to the ordinary course
of life; montage, etc." for now just like the courts that didn't listen to our citizens, because I
demand a permanent solution for all our citizens.
7. Instead I say:
A) The political power should desist from projects, initiatives and the concrete steps taken
with regard to;
Tel : +90 312 292 59 00 – Fax : +90 312 286 31 00

February 28, 2014
a- granting the administration (President of the Presidency of Telecommunication)
with the authority to censor the internet,
b- archiving what the citizens have done on the internet for 2 years, which sites they
have visited, which words they have searched for using the search engines and
what messages they have posted on the social media, and keeping this
information available to the arbitrary use of the authority,
c- putting the inspection of all judges and prosecutors under the discretion of the
Minister of Justice,
d- authorizing the Minister of Justice to designate which member is to work in what
department in the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (for example in the
department that determines in which court and province the judges will work),
e- armouring the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) affiliated to the Prime
Minister with immunity shield and turning it into the sleuthing organizations of
the totalitarian states that spy on our citizens with a higher priority than the
international intelligence and can connect to the computer system of any
institution, bank, company and trade union, and
f- restricting the right of the citizens to file administrative litigations and claim a stay
of execution.
Because suppression leads to protests, the protest is tried to be repressed with
suppression, and the government thus becomes increasingly incapable of governing.
In this process, the new monsters created by the ruling power with their own hands
first attack the society and then their creators once they foresee that the ruling
power will change hands. Afterwards, the judiciary starts to be used as a means for
new revenges. In this beautiful country, the names of the aggrieved change
constantly, but the oppression continues to exist.
B) Therefore, the political power;
Should think of the days when its ruling power will come to an end (this clause
mentioning for those who faithfully talk of democracy that the ruling power will come
to an end one day is not an implication of a coup or intrigue, but the expression of a
situation acknowledged by every person in every democracy in the world.
Unfortunately, we are living in a period where we have to emphasize even this) and
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February 28, 2014
take the following steps in addition to the abovementioned aspects immediately not
for themselves, but for the sake of 76 million people:
a- The institution of secret testimony, which has been applied unprecedentedly
in the democratic world, helped the confessors of the terrorist organization
build a reputation and contributed to the conviction of our soldiers and police
fighting against terrorism up until now, must be abolished completely.
b- The voice recordings and digital data, which have the potential to ruin the
lives of the people who annoy and create difficulties for the political power,
security forces and certain circles of interest, must be banned from
constituting an evidence alone.
c- The establishment of MIT Courts, which will turn the country entirely into a
police-intelligence state / nightmare, in lieu of the courts with special
authority and Anti-Terror Courts must be discontinued.
d- It is not enough to say "the Army and intellectuals were intrigued, this is so
wrong, we are so sorry, we didn't do it, they did it, they deceived us"; the
political, moral and legal responsibility imposed by these statements is to
produce the formulas that will ensure the retrial and fair trial of the
aggrieved. Announcing after these statements that they would deal with this
issue after the elections is nothing other than to continue to torture those
living between the narrow walls of the dungeons.
e- If those who manage to (!) produce formulas to save themselves quickly do
not generate solutions for the people who, they state, were wronged, they
will further increase their share in this oppression.
If these steps are not taken immediately, I'm afraid they will be taken down at the
end of their power, which looks as though it would never come to an end, by the
monsters created by them, and the society will be dragged into a new chaos and the
sorrow suffered will never end.
C) The political opposition;
a- must explain why they are the "right" choice apart from stating the grounds
proving the political power to be "wrong".
b- It is not enough just to say "I'm right", the path followed must also be "right".
c- The struggle to create the perception of preserving and hallowing the status
quo must be abandoned following the statements that the current HCJP is
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February 28, 2014
incapable of ensuring the impartiality and independence of the judiciary and, on
the contrary, renders it subordinate to the political power and/or the structures
within this power. Judicial independence is not eliminated by the recent law,
because the judicial independence has always been impaired and problematic.
This recent law carries this situation to a further stage. Therefore, the political
opposition must repeatedly put forth the solution it has come up with in
accordance with the universal standards instead of taking sides and opting for one
of the two wrongs. However, if the political power refuses to accept this solution,
the opposition should explain this to the society and maintain the path it follows.
Please note that the zigzags do not give confidence.
d- The agenda of Turkey is the justice, corruption, freedom, legal security, social
justice, social security and what the value of hard work will be. Neither of these
issues has priority over others. The real talent is to be able to keep all of them on
the agenda of the country. This shouldn't be too difficult.
e- The political opposition should not forget that it is obliged to open a new path
for Turkey and that this can only be achieved with the liberation, democracy,
social justice and social security projects.
Final remarks...
Opting for one of the two wrongs do not make one right. Zigzags devaluate the words
uttered and damage the reliability. At the end of the day, the utterer gains
importance as much as what you say.
It is high time for the political parties to do something beneficial, abolish the
institution of secret testimony, ban the voice recordings and digital data from
constituting an evidence alone and render the HCJP impartial and independent
through amending the Constitution for the sake of themselves and 76 million citizens
of our country. If they stop thinking of which politicians will benefit from such actions,
I am sure that they will all see the truth: All citizens. Let me add, in case it is not
enough: Themselves as well!..
Once we manage to judge an "unlawfulness" as "unlawful" and "injustice" as "unjust",
only then we can make a substantial progress in the path going towards democracy,
rule of law and justice.
With my deepest respects and compliments...
Att. Metin FEYZİOĞLU
Tel : +90 312 292 59 00 – Fax : +90 312 286 31 00

February 28, 2014
President of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations
Tel : +90 312 292 59 00 – Fax : +90 312 286 31 00

Turquie : l'Union des barreaux de Turquie dénonce les atteintes à la démocratie

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Turquie : l'Union des barreaux de Turquie dénonce les atteintes à la démocratie