DİYARBAKIR - Condemning the words of Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu that targeted lawyers,  Amed Bar Association said: "The statement contained the threat of a new investigation."

 

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, at the meeting with the personnel of the General Directorate of Security and their families in Şişli, Istanbul, “Whenever the lawyers of the PKK are jailed, then there will be nothing left to see as PKK in Turkey. They are the target. Soylu targeted lawyers with the words “This is so clear ”.

 

A NEW INVESTIGATION THREAT

 

Diyarbakır Bar Association made a written statement regarding the words of Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. In the statement, which was mentioned that Soylu's statements criminalized the profession of lawyer, the following statements were included: "The Minister of Interior, on the investigation launched by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on April 24, in which a detention decision was made against 25 of our colleagues, on his Twitter account, accompanied by footage of the operation, made a similar statement in the form of an operation against those who committed it. He violated the 'presumption of innocence' and influenced the judiciary with this statement. As a matter of fact, 4 of our colleagues were unlawfully arrested just because of their professional activities. We are also aware that this unfortunate and targeted statement of the Minister of Interior carries the threat of a new investigation. We are in a process where fundamental rights and freedoms are interfered with in a very arbitrary way, rights defenders, especially lawyers, professional organizations and non-governmental organizations are targeted by the judiciary and exposed to criminal threats.

 

WE DO NOT ACCEPT

 

Despite everything, we would like to remind you once again that; The lawyer is the guarantee of all citizens' access to justice and fair trial, freely representing the independent defense, which is one of the founding elements of the judiciary. We share with the public that we do not accept this criminalizing and targeting language against our profession."