Turkish Union of Bars head to attend legal ceremony, defies Erdoğan

Turkish Union of Bars head Metin Feyzioğlu has defied President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by saying he will attend the ceremony to mark the new legal year.

Feyzioğlu, whose near-one hour speech during the Council of State’s anniversary drew the ire of Erdoğan in May, replied to the Turkish leader’s statement who said he would not attend the ceremony if Feyzioğlu would speak at the event.

“Was there something wrong in May,” Feyzioğlu said, referring to the speech which prompted Erdoğan to storm off during the ceremony. “We are expressing the unlawful issues in the country. What we were defending there were the citizens’ rights via the lawyers’ rights. I really want to go and make a three-minute statement at the start of the legal year. I would really like to live in that kind of country,” Feyzioğlu added.

When asked about the length of his speech this time around, Feyzioğlu said it would be “30 minutes” long, adding he did not have a single regret over the length of his last speech in May, which lasted around “51 minutes.”

“I think the head of the Council of State should be regretful. Was it correct that they didn’t even mention the Council of State judge who was removed? So I had to mention him. Mr. Prime Minister’s preferences are his issues. I provided him with a reply [and] I would give the same reply today [if he asked me]. It’s not my problem that I talk about [these issues],” Feyzioğlu said.

As a staunch critic of the government, Feyzioğlu was also critical of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). While responding to the CHP’s Faruk Loğoğlu’s criticism on judiciary...