MEDEL - Magistrats européens pour la démocratie et les libertés

MEDEL - Magistrats européens pour la démocratie et les libertés

Sunday, Sep 20th

M E D E L

Situation in Turkey

Platform for an Independent Judiciary in TurkeyThe extraordinary situation of violation of the independence of the judiciary in Turkey has induced all four European Associations of Judges to join together in their activities:

• The Association of European Administrative Judges (AEAJ),
• The European Association of Judges (EAJ),
•  Judges for Judges and
•  “Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés” (MEDEL)

And form a Platform: Platform for an Independent Judiciary in Turkey. 

Since its creation, the Platform has been working together to promote the independence of the Judiciary in Turkey and the right to freedom and a fair trial to all the Judges and Prosecutors detained.

Here we gather the main documents issued by the Platform:    

Platform Letter Council Europe - 1-8-2016-4SG1.89 MB
Platform Letter Council Europe - 1-8-2016-4PACE1.9 MB
Situation of Turkish Judiciary - Platform Report417.14 KB
Turkey Platform Conclusions163.96 KB
Statement on the eve of the EU-Turkey leaders’ meeting in Varna114.84 KB
70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its observation in Turkey160.88 KB
Criminal conviction of Mr Murat Arslan117.89 KB
Platform Letter Secretary-General Council Europe - 15-07-2020
Statement of the Platform for in Independent Judiciary in Turkey (31th August 2020) (.pdf)157.11 KB

Links to the other member association webpages of the Platform:

The Association of European Administrative Judges (AEAJ)

The European Association of Judges (EAJ), Regional Group of the International Association of Judges (IAJ)

The Judges for Judges

Joınt Statement on the arrest of 48 Lawyers and 7 Intern Lawyers in Ankara, Turkey (16.9.2020)MEDEL has co-signed a joint statement, published today, on the mass arrest of lawyers in Turkey. You can read it below:

Through the new “alternative bar associations” legislation and President Erdogan’s own words “Those who act as the lawyers of terrorists may not act like terrorists themselves. If they do so, there must be a price to pay”, which he said in the presence of judges and prosecutors in the new judicial year opening ceremony, the Turkish government had already signaled that a new phase in the persecution of lawyers was about to start. Only a few days after President Erdogan’s speech, today (11 September 2020), the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor has ordered the arrest of 48 lawyers, 7 trainee lawyers, 4 purged judges and a law graduate, for being “members of a terrorist organisation”

MEDEL

MEDEL issued a statement on the death of the Turkish Lawyer Ebru Timtik. You can find it below:

The death of Ebru Timtik, after 238 days of hunger strike, adds one more life to the many that have already been quashed since the upheaval of democracy in Turkey, and confirms that all members of the Turkish legal community (judges, lawyers, academics) who keep working to defend the rule of law remain “enemies” to fight without mercy.

Ebru Timtik was sentenced to more than 13 years of prison for alleged membership in a terrorist organization, simply on the basis of her professional activity. She never stopped to fight against this injustice, claiming her right to have a fair trial, a fundamental guarantee that is now denied to Turkish citizens.

Association of European Administrative Judges (AEAJ) European Association of Judges (EAJ), Judges for Judges, Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés (MEDEL)

The Platform for an independent Judiciary in Turkey has just issued a statement about the situation in Turkey. 
 
It was sent to the Turkish government, the Council of Europe and European Union institutions.

Association of European Administrative Judges (AEAJ) European Association of Judges (EAJ), Judges for Judges, Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés (MEDEL)

The Platform for an Independent Judiciary in Turkey, of which MEDEL is a member, has released a statement, marking another anniversary of the attempted coup d'Etat in Turkey.
 
A similar letter has been also sent to the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe.

TURKEY – FOUR YEARS OF DISMANTLEMENT OF RULE OF LAW

Four years ago, on July 15th 2016, a failed coup d’état in Turkey set in motion an unprecedented and orchestrated campaign to destroy the Rule of Law and the independence of the Judiciary.

MEDEL

MEDEL has sent on may 18th two letters to the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Parliament, about the situation in Turkey and the recent events regarding the suspension of the President of the Turkish Judicial Syndicate, Ms. Ayse Pehlivan.

Murat ArslanYou can find here the english translation of an article about the verdict against Murat Arslan, written by Ingrid Heilein, the German colleague who has been observing as MEDEL representative the trial of Murat Arslan.

The article was originally published in December 2019 in the German magazine "Betrifft Justiz". Read it below.

Murat Arslan

The Platform for an Independent Judiciary in Turkey has sent today a letter to the Foreign Affairs Ministers, who are gathered in Brussels to discuss the situation in Turkey and Syria, about Murat Arslan's appeal decision.
 

Murat ArslanThe Italian television RAI made a special report about Murat Arslan, with the participation of Gualtiero Michelini, former President of MEDEL, from Magistratura Democratica.

Association of European Administrative Judges (AEAJ) European Association of Judges (EAJ), Judges for Judges, Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés (MEDEL)The Platform for an Independent Judiciary in Turkey has published today a letter with an appeal to the respect of basic human rights in what regards the detention of Judges and Prosecutors in Turkey, and focusing on the dramatic case of judge Sultani Temel, who has been arrested (followed by pre-trial detention) since 16 January 2017 (with exception for the period of 5 October 2017 to 6 June 2018), together with her five-year-old daughter.

IustitiaAs a way of reaffirming our solidarity, our Polish member association, Iustitia, has made a video with images of detentions in Turkish courts after the coup in Turkey and with judges and prosecutors from all over Europe, reading some of the letters.

MEDELMarking the date of Giovanni Falcone’s assassination by the Mafia in 1992, MEDEL pronounced the 23rd of May as the alert day for the independence of justice in Europe. On this date, we are invited to reflect on the need for an independent and effective justice all over Europe and its importance for the safeguard of European citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms.

Very dark signs have arisen all over Europe in recent years, inside and outside the European Union. However, in no place as in Turkey did we witness such an orchestrated and premeditated campaign to completely destroy the independence of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law. Since the attempted Coup d’État of July 15th, 2016, all Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers who had constantly struggled for an independent justice have been persecuted, arrested, dismissed and have seen their property seized without any previous due process and with absolutely no guarantees of defense. 

EuronewsEuronews, the European news network who also broadcasts in Turkish language, has just released news about MEDEL's ebook of the letters in Turkish.

Here is the link:

murat.arslan2The president of the Portuguese Judges Association published an article about Murat Arslan in one of the main newspapers in Portugal, which can be found in THIS LINK: 

Here is the translation in English.

Murat Arslan was arrested on 19 October 2016. He is in a prison cell in Sincan, Ankara, with 16 other detainees: 8 beds and the floor to sleep, a carpet to pray, one shower, one washbasin and two toilets. 20 liters of water a day to wash clothes and body, half an hour a week for visits, though a thick dirty glass, half an hour a month to hug the wife Sevilay and the sons, Burak Emre and Yigit Eren, 16 and 13 years old, a phone call every two weeks, an hour a month to play football, and a weekly order of books and canteen food.

Platform for an Independent Judiciary in TurkeyYesterday, Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize Winner Murat Arslan, President of the Independent Turkish Judges Association YARSAV, has been convicted under charges of being member of an armed terrorist organization (namely of being active member of FETÖ/PDY) and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

Mr Murat Arslan is a Turkish judge and president of the Turkish Association of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV). He has been arrested in October 2016 and remains since then in (pre-trial) detention.

He was awarded in October 2017 the Václav-Havel Human Rights prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

  1. MEDEL Statement - Turkey: heavy and unjustified conviction of Murat Arslan, Vaclav Havel Human rights prize winner
  2. 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its observation in Turkey
  3. Statement by the Associazione Nazionale Magistrati following the news on the death in detention of Teoman Gökçe, former member of the HSYK
  4. Statement on the eve of the EU-Turkey leaders’ meeting in Varna
  5. Report of MEDEL's observer to the ongoing trial of Murat Arslan, President of YARSAV (in German and English)
  6. Letter addressed to the President of the Republic of Italy by the Associazione Nazionale Magistrati, Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana and Consiglio Nazionale Forense on occasion of the visit to Italy of the Turkish President
  7. Situation of the Turkish Judiciary - Report of The Platform for an Independent Judiciary in Turkey
  8. Joint Communiquè by MEDEL and AED (Avocats Européens Démocrates) on the incoming referendum in Turkey: Le glas de la démocratie ne cesse de sonner en Turquie
  9. MEDEL Declaration on death of Judge Mehmet Tosun
  10. Solidarity with avvocata Barbara Spinelli
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