Top court may drop head of bar associations from invitee list of upcoming ceremony

President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has clearly stated he will not attend the ceremony marking the commencement of the judicial year for 2014-2015 if the head of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) delivers a speech there, pressuring Turkey’s top court to review its list of invitees.

“We will share the result with the public after taking the issue to the Council of Presidents,” President Ali Alkan of the Supreme Court of Appeals said on Aug. 15, referring to outgoing Prime Minister Erdoğan’s statement, while speaking to reporters at a reception marking the 13th anniversary of the founding of his Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The Council of Presidents has already drafted the list of invitees for the Sept. 1 ceremony at a meeting the organization held in July, Alkan underlined while speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

“In this context, in addition to me, the delivery of a speech by the chair of the Union of Bar Associations was also outlined. Accordingly, an invitation has been sent to Bars Associations President Metin Feyzioğlu,” Alkan said.

He also noted there is a time-limit for the Feyzioğlu’s speech because of “undesired developments” that occurred when he delivered a long speech criticizing the Council of State’s head, Zerrin Güngör, at a ceremony marking the Council of State’s 146th anniversary in May.

Erdoğan had stormed out of the ceremony upon Feyzioğlu’s one-hour-long speech where he criticized the government. On May 10, Turkish politics witnessed a first when Erdoğan interrupted Feyzioğlu’s speech, standing up and heckling the TBB head before walking out. He accused the TBB head of distorting...