Sawt Falasteen - Lawyers caught in Turkey's crackdown on opposition

At least 10 defence and human rights lawyers have been jailed or arrested in Istanbul alone since the start of this "black year", said Ibrahim Kaboglu, head of the city's bar association.

Mehmet Pehlivan, who was representing Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, also found himself locked up after his client was jailed in March as part of a graft investigation critics have denounced as politically motivated.

Just days later, Pehlivan's own lawyer was also arrested, denouncing the move as "intimidation".

The arrest of Imamoglu, seen as the only opposition leader with a realistic chance of beating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box, triggered Turkey's worst street protests in years.

Six months on, there are still no formal charges against him.

Kaboglu himself and his executive board are also facing legal action after being dismissed in March by prosecutors who accused them of spreading "terrorist propaganda" and "false information".

"Turkish lawyers are facing unprecedented pressure," he said. "When lawyers are targeted, it is those seeking justice -- the people, civil society and anyone in opposition (to the government) who are in the firing line," he told AFP.

Their case resumes in court on Tuesday, with all 11 in the dock for demanding an investigation into the deaths of two Turkish journalists of Kurdish origin who were killed in northern Syria.

An NGO said they were targeted by a Turkish drone.

The Turkish military denies targeting civilians.

- 'Direct assault' -

Twelve legal and human rights organisations denounced the case against the bar association Monday as a "direct assault" on the independence of the legal profession.

"The criminal and civil proceedings against the Istanbul Bar Association's executive board amount to retaliation for engaging in lawful, rights-based advocacy," said Ayse Bingol Demir, director of the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project.

"They are part of a broader effort to intimidate the legal profession and silence institutions that challenge state power," she added.

Lawyers outside Istanbul are also being held.

Seven who were defending people arrested in Izmir, Turkey's third city, during nationwide protests over Imamoglu's removal were also detained in March.

"The increase in lawyers being detained and arrested can only be explained by the pressure and growing attacks on Turkish (civil) society as a whole," said Goksel Akbaba, one of the arrested lawyers.

He said he was never told why he was arrested.

"Such methods are used to intimidate lawyers in the same way as they are used to intimidate society," Akbaba added.

In April, an international coalition of lawyers, bar associations and rights groups raised the alarm over Ankara's "escalating attacks" on the legal profession.

Describing it as "an affront to the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law" it urged the international community to "condemn the Turkish authorities' misuse of the justice system to suppress independent legal professionals and institutions and undermine public confidence in the rule of law."

- Accused of same crimes as clients -

In recent years, several hundred lawyers have been imprisoned, according to figures provided by several associations.

Many have been accused of the same alleged charges as their clients, using broadbrush anti-terror legislation widely criticised by human rights groups as disproportionately restrictive.

In August 2020, Ebru Timtik -- who was jailed for "belonging to a terror organisation" -- died in an Istanbul prison after a months-long hunger strike to demand a fair trial, her death drawing a sharp rebuke from the European Union, which denounced "serious shortcomings" in Turkey's justice system.

Although several lawyers have been released from jail in recent months in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country, "there has been a distressing increase in trials involving Turkish lawyers in the past two years," said French-based DSF-AS (Defence Without Borders-Solidarity with Lawyers).

"There is a desire within the Turkish government to bring the legal profession to heel," a spokesman told AFP, pointing to the case against the Istanbul Bar Association as an example.

V.Said--SF-PST