The Diyarbakır Bar Association is an organization of lawyers established in the year 1927. It is one of the 81 members of the

Turkish Bars Association The Turkish Bars Association (correctly, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations) or ''Türkiye Barolar Birliği'' (TBB) has been established in 1969 and is an organisation for Turkish lawyers, uniting over 70,000 lawyers in 79 Turkish bar associat ...

. Several of its leaders were prosecuted and one of its presidents was assassinated. The current president is Cihan Aydın and it is constituted by about 1500 lawyers.

History

Tahir Elçi Tahir Elçi (1966, Cizre – 28 November 2015) was a Kurdish lawyer and the chairman of Diyarbakır Bar Association. Early life and education He went to primary and secondary school in Cizre and graduated from Dicle University in 1991. In 1993 ...

, the then president of the Bar Association was murdered while making a peace declaration for the Kurdish-Turkish conflict on the 28 November 2015. He was murdered after a prosecutor demanded 7.5 years imprisonment for having declared that the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK) is not a terror organization on the 14 October 2015. The Diyarbakır Bar Association itself also received intimidating phone calls and messages but as its members approached the prosecutor asking for protection, their demands were denied. The Bar Association was investigated for its criticism over the prohibition of pronouncing

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, Kurdish la ...

in theTurkish

Grand National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to: * Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania * Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...

. It was also investigated for making a declaration in solidarity of the victims of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

on the 24 April 2019. Ahmet Özmen, the former head of the Bar Association as well as several members of the board are prosecuted according to

Article 301 Article 301 is an article of the Turkish Penal Code making it illegal to insult Turkey, the Turkish nation, Turkish government institutions, or Turkish national heroes such as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. It took effect on June 1, 2005, and was introdu ...

of the Turkish Penal Code. On 28 April 2021, Turkish prosecutors launched another probe of the association over a statement that "The ‘Armenian Deportation’ which started on April 24, 1915 has marked the beginning of one of the most painful calamities of our social history. This is why April 24 is one of the darkest days of the Armenian nation who has scattered around the world’s every corner." The bar association is facing charges of "insulting the Turkish nation, the Turkish Republic, the state’s institutions and bodies". In October 2022, all defendants were acquitted as both the defense and the prosecution demanded their acquittal. In April 2020, the Bar Association was also investigated for insulting religious values after it criticized

Ali Erbaş Ali Erbaş (born in 1961 in Kabadüz, Ordu Province, Turkey) is a Turkish Muslim scholar and president of Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) in Turkey. Education Erbaş attended elementary school in Yeşilyurt, and graduated from the ...

, the head of the Turkish

Directorate of Religious affairs The Directorate of Religious Affairs in Turkey ( tr, Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, normally referred to simply as the Diyanet) is an official state institution established in 1924 by the orders of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk under article 136 of t ...

following his remarks about

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

causing illnesses. In November 2020, some of the Bar Associations lawyers who were assigned as election supervisors in local elections 2019, were detained as their names were found mentioned in documents of the

Democratic Society Congress The Democratic Society Congress (, ) is a pro-Kurdish NGO favouring the implementation of Democratic Confederalism in Turkish politics. Its foundation congress was held between 26-29 October 2007. Structure It has 2 co-chairs, a chairman and ...

(DTK), which is a legal organization but viewed as linked with the PKK.

Awards

* 2016 International Hrant Dink Prize.{{Cite web, date=2016-09-23, title=Hrant Dink Annual Award Granted to Diyarbakir Bar Association and Malawian Activist Theresa Kachindamoto • MassisPost, url=https://massispost.com/2016/09/hrant-dink-annual-award-granted-to-diyarbakir-bar-association-and-malawian-activist-theresa-kachindamoto/, access-date=2020-09-21, website=MassisPost, language=en-US * 2018 International Ludovic Trarieux Human Rights Special Mention of the Jury.

References

Bar associations of Asia 1927 establishments in Turkey Organizations based in Turkey