On 11 June 2020, the Law Society of England and Wales, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights, the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, Lawyers for Lawyers and the Izmir Bar Association are jointly organizing an online conference.
The conference is titled: ‘Lawyers rights in peril: A discussion on the challenges to the integrity of the legal profession in Turkey amid the ongoing hungers strikes of the lawyers Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal‘.
The conference will bring together lawyers, representatives from various bar associations from Turkey and international lawyers organizations and rights defenders to explore and discuss the current situation of lawyers in Turkey and their increasing persecution. More specifically it will look at the proposed reform of the bar associations and the threats to their independence, the ex-officio investigations that have been started against the bar associations of Diyarbakir and Ankara, the Parole Act exceptions in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current situation of the two lawyers from the Progressive Lawyers’ Association (Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği, ÇHD) who have been on a hunger strike for over 100 days. Speakers include representatives of and members from the Law Society of England and Wales, Diyarbakir, İzmir and Ankara Bar Associations, and a representative of the ÇHD. The keynote speech will be delivered by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC – the Director of IBAHR.
A recording of the conference will be made available after the conference.
