Ralph Bunche International Affairs Center | Howard University Law School presents:
“The Contemporary Decline of Turkish Judicial Practice: Perspectives on the Purge of Judicial Workers and Deterioration of the Rule of Law in Turkey”
Virtual Conference April 24th, Saturday, 2021 11:00 am-2:30 pm CST, (US Central time)
The recent rise of authoritarianism in Turkey has heavily impacted the Turkish judicial system. Since the coup attempt in 2016, there have been many alarming developments affecting the Turkish judicial system. The government's increased executive interference and actions through the state of emergency provisions jeopardize the judiciary's independence. The arrest, dismissal, and arbitrary transfer of judges and prosecutors, and repeated instances of violence and threat against lawyers who represented politically sensitive cases, are but a few examples of intensive attacks on the judiciary's independence.
Almost 5.000 judges and prosecutors have been arbitrarily dismissed and permanently banned from working in the public sector. They are facing systematic unemployment and stigmatization. The government disregarded their due process rights and put thousands of judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and clerks in lengthy and arbitrary pretrial detention without a fair trial. The government's excessive entanglement paralyzes the independence of the Turkish judicial institutions. Rather, they basically serve the government's agenda for political control and suppression of dissenting groups. This shows its face on the repressive and hostile measures against media freedom, academia, and the public. Despite all the country’s commitments to international law, the Turkish government's hostile conduct against the legal profession leads to an ineffective and traumatized justice system where foundations of the rule of law and protection of human rights have deteriorated. Legislative and practical measures have weakened judges’, prosecutors’, and lawyers' independence, which has created a delicate and erratic application of law in the country.
There are now unprecedented levels of pressure and fear in the Turkish judiciary. The government's opportunist attacks on the judiciary have resulted in allowing violations of human rights to go unaddressed. The consequences of the ongoing entanglement of government with the judiciary and the purge of legal professionals at every level will have long-term effects on the judicial system and human rights records of Turkey. The speakers will address some of the ramifications of this judicial purge and deterioration of the rule of law in Turkey. We hope that bringing into conversation the contemporary decline of the Turkish judiciary and associated human rights issues will promote a deeper understanding of the ongoing events undergirding the authoritarian surge in Turkey. Conference Format: The conference language is English.
The conference will be held online. Each presenter will be given 20-minutes each to speak, followed by 10 minutes Q&A.
The participants are: Moderator Wendi See, Esq. Participants Ann Graham, J.D./MBA, Law Professor (Retired) Hamline University and Texas Tech University; M.Div. (Expected May 2021) Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary “When the Rule of Law Breaks Down: The Case for an Independent Judiciary” Dr. Daniel Skubik, JD/PhD, (retired) California Baptist University, Professor of Law, Ethics and Humanities “Discretion, Independence, and the Rule of Law” Talip Aydın, PhD, Former Judge and Head of Human Rights, Ministry of Justice, Turkey "Independence of the Police and the Judiciary from Political Interference” (working title) Dr. Alfred de Zayas, JD/PhD Alfred-Maurice de Zayas is a former UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a democratic and equitable international order (2012-18), former senior lawyer with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee and Chief of the Petitions Department (registrar). Steven K. Young, MBA, PMP, PhD-student, former politician & Chief Government Whip, S/Sgt police Officer (ret), author, university lecturer. Consultant and negotiator. James C. Harrington, J.D., M.A.Phil. Human rights attorney. Founder and Executive Director of the Texas Civil Rights Project (1990-2016); Adjunct Professor in Civil Rights at the University of the Texas School of Law (1985-2012); member of human rights delegations to Chile, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Israel and Palestinian territories; author, writer, and international speaker on civil society. “The Once and Future Judiciary: A Past Wisp of Independence” Dr. Kemal Şahin, Purged-Prof. of Law in the field of international human rights law, and former (national and key) expert of Council of Europe, mainly in the Joint Projects -CoE&EU. “The Role of Turkey’s Judiciary in the Commission of Crimes against Humanity: Case Examples”