Every year, April 5 is celebrated as Lawyers’ Day, but this day is much more than a celebration. In Turkey, the profession of lawyer has become not only the representative of the law, but also the name of resisting injustice and paying the price for the sake of truth. Today is a day of remembrance for our colleagues who have struggled to uphold the right to defense, who have been oppressed, impoverished, discredited and even forced to end their lives while practicing their profession. Lawyers’ Day should no longer be a greeting; it should be a day of solidarity, a call, a voice.
A Country Where Defense is Criminalized: A Criminalized Profession
Lawyering is the profession of defending the rule of law and the rights of the individual. However, in Turkey today, this profession has been turned into a ground for accusation and a target. The investigations systematically opened by prosecutors and the prosecutions that follow these investigations make it clear that lawyers are intended to be punished solely for their professional activities. Lawyers, who are identified with their clients and put under pressure with allegations that lack evidence and legal basis, have become the target of authority, not justice. The judiciary, which should be the guardian of the law, has turned into an instrument acting on instructions; the defense has been removed as an essential element of the trial. Lawyers are detained, their phones are tapped, their homes and offices are raided, their social media accounts are monitored and even their conversations with their clients are added to the files as criminal offenses. All these practices systematically undermine not only lawyers but also the public’s faith in justice.
On the Edge of No Future: Young Lawyers and the Silent Scream
For young lawyers entering the profession, the legal system in Turkey does not produce hope but despair. The unplanned opening of law faculties, the increase in the number of unqualified graduates, and the shrinking job market leave young lawyers with dead ends in the first steps of their profession. Either working in another lawyer’s office in a system of exploitation below the minimum wage, or choosing the path of self-employment and not being able to cope with economic concerns… Both paths have one thing in common: no future. Unfortunately, this dead-end path is leading more and more young lawyers to take their own lives. The increasing number of suicides is a harbinger not only of individual suffering but also of a systemic collapse. Our young colleagues not only struggle to survive economically, but also struggle to exist in an environment of pressure. Their professional ideals are shattered in their early years, they are isolated and pushed into silence. The call to “Don’t feel helpless, join the struggle” is an expression of a collective stance against this dark picture. Because this profession can only rise again with solidarity, not when it is left alone.
Bar Associations Choose Where You Stand
While practicing their profession, lawyers have to struggle not only with the economic crisis or political pressure, but also with a professional structure in which they are not represented. Bar associations should not only be institutions that distribute licenses; they should be structures equipped with the duty to protect the honor of the profession and defend their colleagues. Today, however, many bar associations are either silent or inadequate in the face of rights violations, increasing pressure and the deep crisis young lawyers are facing. While young lawyers are becoming isolated day by day, the silence of bar associations deepens this isolation. However, our colleagues who are arrested every day, young lawyers who commit suicide due to economic reasons and our professional activities that are presented as evidence of crime show that this silence has a heavy price. Therefore, we call out loudly from here: Bar associations must take responsibility. Leaving lawyers alone means destroying not only one professional group, but the entire balance of the justice system. Now is the time to stand on the side of truth, justice and solidarity, not impartiality or submission to pressure.
Defenses in Exile: Lawyers Who Left and Didn’t Return
In Turkey, there are not only those who stay inside, but also those who are forced to leave. Seeing that they cannot practice their profession freely and facing the threat of detention, arrest or discredit at every step, many lawyers have found the solution to leave their country. Our colleagues, who have been labeled terrorists, identified with the client’s file, expelled from the courtroom and prosecuted for defending the law, are now scattered all over the world. But wherever they go, they are still the voice of justice, still the defenders of the law. Every lawyer in exile is a reminder of how valuable this profession is, but also how fragile it is. What they are going through is not just an individual loss; it is a piece of the conscience of the country. There are some who did not give up the pursuit of truth even when they were abroad. They carried the burden of justice and conscience on their shoulders in foreign lands; they became the voice of the law, the tongue of conscience that would not be silenced. Some of them, in the midst of this heavy burden, walked silently into their own eternity. But they always left behind the same promise: “Never deviate from the truth, never give up the struggle.” I would like to dedicate this article to their honorable memory, to those who did not give up their defense until their last breath.
This is not a celebration, but a reminder
April 5 is no longer a day to be celebrated with a flower. This date is the voice of the isolated soldiers of justice. This date is the struggle of those who do not remain silent, who do not fear, who do not bow down. This date is the name of our lawyers who ended their lives in despair at a young age. And this date is the honorable lawyers who are still trying to hold on to their profession, saying “we are here, we are here”.
Therefore, today is more than a celebration, it is a call:
To speak one more sentence for every defense that is being silenced, to stand together for every colleague who is being isolated, and to be a little braver against the darkness… Today is the day of those who, despite all the difficulties, still do not give up saying “I am a lawyer”. And hope only exists when we raise our voices together. For justice, for the honor of our profession, for not bowing our heads after those who have gone…
Happy April 5th Lawyers’ Day with the hope that true justice will one day return to these lands.
