The lawyers taking to the streets reminded everyone of similar protests in 1997, which led up to the Feb. 28 post-modern coup, and the fact that their past record of silence in the wake of anti-democratic and illegitimate military moves have raised suspicions about their motivation to hold such a demonstration.Sabah’s Nazlı Ilıcak, who is among the witnesses of the Feb. 28 process, says, “We are faced with an attempt at psychological warfare,” again relying on her experience. She says instead of pursuing the case of Col. Dursun Çiçek, who undersigned a military plot to destroy the government and who was released from jail after he was briefly arrested last week, and instead of making an effort to uncover the junta within the military, they point a finger at the government as the perpetrator of wiretapping cases. “In brief, the unarmed forces are at work again. Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya taking action against the government and some members of the judiciary taking to the streets with the excuse of protesting the ‘illegal wiretapping cases’ have caused me think this way,” says Ilıcak.
Criticizing the bar associations in Turkey, Star’s Ergun Babahan says bar associations and their heads are among the most respected institutions and people in the world, while it is not possible to say the same thing for the bar associations and their heads in Turkey. In his view, the legal wiretapping of individuals where there is evidence that they committed certain offenses should please bar associations because such a move will maintain justice.
Talking about the many shortcomings in Turkey’s judicial system and the anti-democratic and illegal steps taken in the country thus far, Star’s Mehmet Altan finds it strange that the bar associations have not yet taken to the streets to protest these shortcomings, such as the existence of a military council of state in Turkey, which exists nowhere else in the world, a coup-product Constitution, the military violating laws by releasing a memorandum against the government in 2007, etc. “Why did the lawyers march yesterday? To protest the legal wiretapping of some members of the judiciary who have suspected links with the Ergenekon terror organization. This is what I call judicial sensitivity. Well done,” quips Altan.
