In January 2026, 38 international human rights and legal organizations urged Turkey to drop terrorism charges against the leadership of the Istanbul Bar Association ahead of an expected final court ruling. Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences of three to 12 years for the bar’s president and 10 board members, accusing them of spreading terrorist propaganda over a December 2024 public statement condemning the killing of two journalists in northern Syria and the arrest of journalists and lawyers during a related protest in Istanbul.
The organizations argue that the case represents a misuse of counterterrorism laws and a direct attack on the independence of the legal profession. They stress that speaking out on human rights violations falls squarely within the bar association’s professional mandate and warn that criminalizing such speech amounts to judicial harassment.
Prosecutors claim the bar’s language legitimized the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an allegation strongly rejected by the signatories. The groups also note that journalists prosecuted over the same protest were acquitted, underscoring the lack of legal basis for continuing the case against the bar’s leadership.