Türkiye Campaigns

Turkey: Concerns about access to the legal profession and disbarments | Joint Statement

Full pdf statement (EN) Concerns about access to the legal profession and increasing disbarments of lawyers in Turkey 19 July 2021 We, the undersigned organizations, have long been deeply concerned about the increasingly challenging and hostile environment in which lawyers in Turkey … [Read more...]

Philippines, Turkey, Iran: Statement to UN Human Rights Council on Independence of Judges and Lawyers | Oral video statement

Full pdf statement Link to Interactive Dialogue Joint statement at 01:32:45 Organization: Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada Item:  Item 3: Interactive Dialogue, Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Date: 28 June 2021 Speaker: Paul Scambler  Oral Statement to the … [Read more...]

UN Human Rights Council: COVID-19 pandemic used to justify interference with lawyers | Joint oral statement

Full Joint Oral Statment to the UN Human Rights Council UN Human Rights Council, 47th session Agenda Item 3 Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers 28 June 2021 Joint Statement of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights … [Read more...]

Turkey: Overbroad anti-terrorism laws used to persecute human rights lawyers | Joint Oral Statement at the 46th Session of the UN Human Rights Council

Full PDF (ENG) Link to the oral statement video Link to written statement to the UN Human Rights Council on deterioration of the rule of law in Turkey Organization: Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of … [Read more...]

Turkey: Five years and no justice for Tahir Elçi | Joint letter to UN Special Rapporteurs

Full PDF (ENG) Quick Response Desk Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva 8-14 Avenue de la Paix CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland E-mail: urgent-action@ohchr.org 2 March 2021 FOR THE ATTENTION OF: Special Rapporteur on the … [Read more...]

Turkey: Continued Deterioration of the Rule of Law and Persecution of Lawyers and Human Rights Defenders | Joint Written Statement to the 46th Session of the UN Human Rights Council

Full PDF (ENG) Full pdf on UN website Background Corrosion of the rule of law in Turkey began prior to an attempted coup of 15 July 2016 but since then has escalated dramatically. Human rights defenders (“defenders”) in Turkey, including lawyers, are facing dire and far-reaching … [Read more...]

Turkey: International law obligations to release arbitrarily detained lawyer Mr. Aytaç Ünsal | Letter

Full PDF (ENG) 8 February 2021 Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan The President of Turkey Cumhurbaşkanlığı Külliyesi 06560 Beştepe- Ankara-Turkey Fax : (+90 312) 525 58 31 E-mail: contact@tccb.gov.tr Mr. Abdulhamit Gül Minister of Justice 06659 Kizilay Ankara, Turkey Fax: +90 (0312) 419 … [Read more...]

Turkey: 5th anniversary of extrajudicial killing of human rights lawyer Tahir Elçi: Effective investigation remains lacking | Joint Statement

Full PDF (ENG) | Full PDF (TUR) The undersigned organisations have been following recent developments in the case involving the prosecution of police officers allegedly involved in the killing of human rights lawyer Tahir Elçi in November 2015. We are concerned that the prosecution, as … [Read more...]

Turkey: Lawyers Levent Pişkin, Cahit Kırkazak and Ayşe Batumlu acquitted | Welcome developments

Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada welcomes news that on 18 November 2020 a Turkish court  acquitted eleven people including lawyers Levent Pişkin, Cahit Kırkazak, and Ayşe Batumlu, on all charges of membership in a terrorist organization and terror propaganda. In July 2019, LRWC was among 17 … [Read more...]

Lawyers in Danger: Threats to Advocates Worldwide | The Advocate, November 2020

This article was originally published in The Advocate, November 2020 edition | See the .pdf article The Advocate is published six times each year by the Vancouver Bar Association and is made available to all lawyers in British Columbia, Canada. NEWS FROM LAWYERS’ RIGHTS WATCH … [Read more...]