Eminağaoğlu to remain influential in YARSAV as spokesman

YARSAV held its 2nd Extraordinary General Council on Sunday in the conference hall of the Ankara Bar Association in which elections to re-appoint executive committee members were held. Eminağaoğlu, who won 195 votes, was replaced by Administrative Court Judge Hasan Akgedik, who garnered 267 votes.

The newly elected executive committee convened to appoint the association’s new chairperson on Thursday, electing Supreme Court of Appeals Investigation Judge Emine Ülker Tarhan to the post. The committee reportedly proposed former head Eminağaoğlu as spokesman for the association, a new post at YARSAV, and Eminağaoğlu accepted. The newly elected Tarhan told reporters following the meeting that Eminağaoğlu had become an international symbol as a result of his stance on issues such as promoting the organization of judges and prosecutors, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. “We feel honored to announce that he [Eminağaoğlu] is once again together with us as he was in the past as a figure closely associated with YARSAV,” she said.

Claiming that the judiciary is under pressure today, she argued that the judiciary is being asked to turn over its duty to the executive branch. Referring to recent alleged wiretapping in the top judiciary, Tarhan said: “We are announcing to the public that we will continue to speak out against these practices, which violate fundamental rights and freedoms, in order to accomplish ‘a democratic and secular state of law’ ideal with all its institutions and rules.”

On various occasions, Eminağaoğlu has voiced disapproval of the detentions and arrests of suspected members of Ergenekon. The Justice Ministry announced in April that there were four ongoing investigations into Eminağaoğlu, two of which were administrative in nature on charges of lacking impartiality and a failure to observe professional ethics. The other two were judicial investigations that were launched because he made a statement as a representative of an NGO in a public institution and because he had been continuously commenting about judicial matters, including the ongoing Ergenekon investigation.

The Ministry of Justice demanded the disbarring of two top Turkish jurists earlier this month, Eminağaoğlu being one of them. The second jurist was controversial Sincan 1st High Criminal Court Chief Justice Osman Kaçmaz. The ministry’s request came upon the conclusion of an investigation into a series of questionable rulings that stretch back to 2008.