The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today condemned the recent arrests in İzmir, Türkiye, of six lawyers, including the former president of the İzmir Bar Association, Özkan Yücel. While Yücel was released today, the other five remain in detention. Credible reports indicate that the six lawyers were detained solely in connection with their legitimate role as defence counsel of individuals arrested during recent demonstrations following the arrest and detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
“The arrests of these lawyers constitute an attack on the legal profession and seriously undermine the administration of justice and rule of law in Türkiye,” said Temur Shakirov, Director (ad interim) of ICJ Europe and Central Asia Programme. “It is essential that the Turkish authorities uphold their obligations under international human rights law to protect lawyers from intimidation, arbitrary arrest, detention or prosecution solely for carrying out their legitimate professional duties.”
It is also reported that some of the lawyers were subject to ill-treatment upon arrest or in custody.
The ICJ calls for the release of the five lawyers who remain in detention as of this evening, and urges the Turkish authorities to end reprisals against lawyers legitimately discharging their professional duties.
Reports indicate that five lawyers were arrested on 22 March while providing legal assistance to demonstrators detained during ongoing protests. Early today, 24 March, police arrested lawyer Özkan Yücel and lawyer Göksel Akbaba during raids on their homes.
These arrests occur amid widespread suppression of demonstrations and other protests in Türkiye, during which at least 1,000 people have been detained according to the statement of the Ministry of Interior. Demonstrators, journalists, opposition figures, and human rights defenders have faced excessive force, arrests, and criminal charges.
The ICJ stresses the critical role that the independent lawyers play in securing their clients’ human rights and, more broadly, in guaranteeing access to justice and effective remedies for people, especially in social contexts marked by mass arrests and detentions where allegations of ill-treatment are raised. The arrest and detention of lawyers defending these individuals further weaken safeguards protecting human rights and access to justice.
The ICJ emphasizes that according to the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, governments must ensure that lawyers can perform their duties without intimidation, hindrance, harassment, or improper interference. Lawyers must never be prosecuted, or otherwise sanctioned, for undertaking legitimate professional duties, nor identified with their clients or their clients’ causes simply for discharging their professional responsibilities.
Türkiye is bound by its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), both of which protect the right of peaceful assembly, the right to liberty, the right to freedom from torture or other ill-treatment, the right to a fair trial, and the right to legal representation.
The ICJ recalls that the latest arrests of these six lawyers are part of an ongoing pattern of harassment against the legal profession in Türkiye, where since 2016, hundreds of lawyers have been unjustly prosecuted and imprisoned on vague and politically motivated charges. Targeting lawyers in the context of peaceful protests further erodes the independence of the legal profession and public trust in the justice system.
The ICJ calls upon Turkish authorities to release all lawyers detained for exercising their legitimate professional functions, to cease all acts of intimidation and criminalization against the legal profession, and to uphold the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, liberty, freedom from torture or other ill-treatment, fair trial and access to justice in line with Türkiye’s international human rights law obligations.
