A coalition of lawyers associations from Europe and beyond accused the European Court of Human Rights of inaction on cases brought by Turkish defense lawyers, in a statement published on Friday, Turkish Minute reported.
They say years of delay have left people in prison and turned the right of individual petition into a formality.
The cases involve lawyers arrested, tried and convicted after a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
Many were prosecuted for activities tied to their work as defense counsel, including attending protests, advising clients on their right to remain silent and representing political opponents.
The associations argue that Turkish courts relied on anonymous witnesses, intelligence material that the defense could not review and the idea that the practice of law itself could be an aggravating factor at sentencing.
They cite fact-finding missions and reports by international organizations and UN bodies that describe a pattern of political pressure on judges and prosecutors and the denial of defense rights.
The statement highlights the mass trials against members of the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) and lawyers from the People’s Law Office (HHB).
Those trials attracted sustained attention from European lawyers’ bar associations, which documented refusals to allow defense witnesses and the rejection of dozens of defense requests without reasoned decisions.
The Council of Europe’s own human rights commissioner examined the ÇHD trial in 2019 and found that courts treated lawyers’ professional activities as incriminating evidence.
The associations say the ECtHR has not moved fast enough in the face of that record.
Applications concerning detention were lodged in April 2021, and further applications on the right to a fair trial were filed in March 2023.
Many have not reached the stage of communication, the first formal step where the court notifies the government and asks for a reply.
The Strasbourg court receives tens of thousands of applications each year and communicates only a smaller share.
Communication is the gateway to a binding judgment and to possible structural remedies that can protect other defendants.
The lawyers’ groups argue that cases about the prosecution of defense counsel should be among those that move first.
They frame the delay as a violation of the court’s own standards.
They cite earlier judgments where the court stressed that justice must be administered without delays that undermine effectiveness and credibility.
The associations also set their claims in the wider post-coup context.
After July 2016 Turkey conducted mass prosecutions for alleged links to the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Turkish government accused of masterminding the coup attempt. Gülen lived in self-imposed exile in the United States from 1999, until he passed away in October 2024 and had denied any involvement in the abortive putsch.
No independent body has found evidence connecting Gülen or the movement to the coup.
Authorities nonetheless treated activities such as downloading the ByLock messaging app, having an account at Bank Asya or belonging to professional associations as signs of organizational ties.
This expansive approach also ensnared lawyers, who faced investigation and prosecution not for acts of violence but for their work in defending clients accused of such links.
Human Rights Watch reported in 2019 that these prosecutions undermined fair trial rights by deterring legal representation.
The groups say the European court’s slow handling of lawyers’ cases sends the wrong message to officials who continue to pursue such charges.
The human cost of Turkey’s crackdown on the legal profession is stark.
Ebru Timtik, a defense lawyer tied to the ÇHD cases, died in August 2020 after a 238-day hunger strike demanding a fair trial.
Her death drew statements from European institutions and rights groups and remains a rallying point for campaigners.
The signatories of the statement include European Democratic Lawyers, the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights, the Barcelona Bar, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the New York City Bar Association and others.
They urge the ECtHR to accelerate the examination of lawyers’ cases from Turkey and to issue interim measures where necessary.
At a press conference in Strasbourg briefing reporters on the lawyers groups’ statement, correspondent Ensar Nur from the TR724 news website asked about ties between the ECtHR and lawyers’ bar associations, noting that court president Mattias Guyomar had promised to resolve cases within two to three years.
Grégory Thaun, a Strasbourg Bar Association board member, replied that unlike governments, lawyers have no institutional channel with the court, creating an imbalance.
He said the Strasbourg Bar holds yearly meetings with a French judge at the ECtHR and is “ready to play a special role” in resolving the heavy caseload but urged that contacts be more regular and formalized.
Thaun voiced optimism about Guyomar’s leadership, recalling his pledge in 2020 to process French cases within 12 months, a target largely met.
The challenge now, he said, is whether Guyomar can lead the registry’s staff and 46 judges to cut delays, which remain one of the court’s greatest criticisms.
Turkey’s courts continue to convict ÇHD and HHB lawyers.
In May 2025 international groups reported fresh prison terms for several defendants based on secret witnesses and on legal work done in the course of representation.
That outcome keeps pressure on the ECtHR to address allegations that Turkey uses the practice of law as evidence of terrorism.
