08/01/2024 | Writer: Selma Koçak
In the case against the Tarlabaşı Community Support Association with the demand of “determination of absence”, Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services has requested the testimony of Milat newspaper reporter Özlem Doğan.
Two separate lawsuits were brought against Association for Supporting Tarlabaşı Community (Tarlabaşı Community Center / TTM) which has been working to provide safe places especially for children and women for fifteen years. The Community Center, which has been targeted by the media more than one year, learned about the lawsuit brought against it via media once again.
The seventh hearing of the “closure” case filed against the association was held at the 18th Civil Court of First Instance today (January 8) at 10am. Since the hearing room is too small, many observers and spectators were unable to enter in. Among those who came to watch the hearing was the European Union Delegation to Turkey.
According to news coverage of Elif Akgül from MLSA, in the previous hearing the lawyers had stated that they would make their statements on the expert report after the receipt of the additional report. Selmin Cansu Demir, one of the association’s lawyers, spoke first and said that the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights were following the case and that the EU delegation in Turkey had also come as an observer. Lawyer Demir also recalled that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child announced its concluding observations on Turkey in June and stated that the pressure and interference against civil society must stop.
Noting that the document on children’s rights prepared by the Ministry of Family also emphasizes cooperation with civil society, lawyer Demir said: “We are not here to courage anyone’s hatred. There is no evidence or document in the file to close the association.”
Sevgi Kalan, one of the association’s lawyers, said they had objections to the supplementary report and asked for time for a response.
The lawyers of the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs then took the floor and stated that “it has been determined that the association hasn’t acted in accordance with its purpose” and that they didn’t agree with the statement claiming the closure of the association would be severe. The lawyers of the Ministry demanded that the case be accepted on these grounds.
The representative of the Ministry of Family Affairs also requested that Özlem Doğan, a reporter for the Milat newspaper, be heard as a witness on the grounds that “she has done a lot of news on the issue and has footage”. In response, Demir, the lawyer of association, took the floor and demanded that it should be recorded in the minutes that Özlem Doğan was in the court room at the time.
Hüseyin Hacıoğlu, one of the charter member of Bir Avuç (A Handful of People against LGBTI+) Platform demanded to get involved in the case.
Announcing its interim decision, the court decided to inquire whether the investigation under the number 2021/146140 at the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office's Family Protection and Prevention of Violence against Women Department had been completed. The court rejected Hacıoğlu’s request to intervene and adjourned the case to May 6, 2024 at 10:00.
CLICK - The closure case against TTM will be heard on January 8
Tags: human rights, family
