Istanbul Anatolian Labour Court No 2 Judge Mehmet Yoylu, saying the skirt of a lawyer present at a hearing was too short, deemed it “unethical” and tried to get the length of the skirt measured. The judge’s wish to take a photograph of the lawyer and send it to the bar association provoked a barrage of outrage. The Board of Judges and Prosecutors has launched an investigation into judge Mehmet Yoylu and suspended him as an interim measure.
At a hearing being held before Istanbul Anatolian Labour Court No 2, judge Mehmet Yoylu considered the skirt of a lawyer attending the hearing to be too short and wanted to take a photograph of it and send it to the bar association. At the behest of the judge, who argued that the claimant’s attorney’s attire was “unethical,” an entry was made into the record: “It was observed that the claimant’s attorney’s skirt was around 15 centimetres above her knee and, as such, was contrary to attorneyship legislation and contrary to the ethical rules of attire.”
Lawyers sitting in the spectators’ gallery were asked about the length of the claimant’s attorney’s skirt and whether it breached attorneyship legislation.
The lawyers whose views were consulted said the length of the claimant’s attorney’s skirt complied with the law and custom. The claimant’s attorney also said, “In my view, it has to do with the sphere of freedom and it must not be interfered with.”
Despite this, because the length of the claimant’s attorney’s skirt was very short and so as not to give rise to misunderstanding and taking into consideration that what the judge deemed to be “too short” would not be equivalent to that the lawyers in attendance deemed to be “too short,” it was wished to photograph the length of the skirt with a mobile phone for it to be notified to the bar association chair’s office. The claimant’s attorney said, “I don’t want to be photographed on my own.”
A large number of lawyers, predominantly women, assembled in front of the Anatolian Labour Court No 2 and voiced their reaction. The events were decried with the slogans “There is harassment at the judicial complex” and “Mehmet Yoylu should be dismissed.”
It was notable that Anatolian Labour Court No 2 judge Mehmet Yoylu, reappearing in the courtroom a while after the decision he had passed, had shaved off his goatee and put on a shirt.
The Istanbul Branch of the Contemporary Jurists Association posted on its social media account, “Anatolian Labour Court No 2 judge Mehmet Yoylu shaved off his goatee and put on a shirt and returned in attire that accorded with ‘professional ethics.’ The judge, asked to apologize to the women lawyers, said he would not do so and left the courtroom once more.”
“Judge Yoylu, who called the police and threatened the lawyers present in the courtroom along with Istanbul Bar Association Chair Mehmet Durakoğlu with expulsion from the courtroom, was himself forced to leave the courtroom.”
“The ruse of shaving off his beard and putting on a shirt and tie and exonerating himself from being identified as a molester did not work this time, nor will it!”
“We have learnt that Judge Mehmet Yoylu has obtained a two-day sick note and is on the verge of departing from the judicial complex. Until the harassing judge is dismissed, we will not let this disrespect shown first to our women colleagues and then to our profession go.”
The Board of Judges and Prosecutors has suspended Istanbul Anatolian Labour Court No 2 Judge Mehmet Yoylu by way of interim measure.
The Lawyers’ Rights Centre and Bar Association Management board have also become involved in the process.
It has also emerged that Judge Mehmet Yoylu beat up a lawyer at Balıkesir Judicial Complex in 2011.
Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül also announced that an investigation had been launched into Yoylu. Gül said, “The Board of Judges and Prosecutors has launched an investigation into the most distasteful, unfortunate and unlawful event that our lawyer colleague was subjected to on account of her dress preference today at Istanbul Anatolian Judicial Complex.”
Speaking to Evrensel, Istanbul Bar Association Chair Mehmet Durakoğlu voiced his reaction to the event by describing it as a “disgrace.” Durakoğlu said, “This is called disgrace, the attempt to belittle one of our colleagues and he does this with recourse to the attire the lawyer wears. I can find no other words for such a culprit than, ‘abuse of the authority he derives from the elevated nature of the bench he sits on.’ I think the notion of womanhood in this man’s head must absolutely be investigated. We know this man. He is a man who punched a lawyer in the past. He was supposedly ‘punished’ for this with a transfer to Istanbul. Who is behind this transfer punishment(!)? So, where does his ability to enter this into the record as well while engaging in this disgrace derive from? We are curious about this.”
Durakoğlu said, “In conclusion, we think this man must be removed from the judicial realm as soon as possible. We as the management board have established a committee in relation to this and will monitor the situation until the end. We will not satisfy ourselves just with suspension and will do everything for penal procedures to be implemented. Just now all our complaints have been made. We await their results as soon as possible. We await not just the display of reaction by lawyers to a lawyer being belittled, but the reaction of the whole judicial world.”
CHP Deputy General Chair, Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi, has asked Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül about the harassment scandal.
In her parliamentary question, she addressed the questions, “From what is stated in the record, the court judge passed the comment, ‘because the length of the skirt is very short and so as not to give rise to misunderstanding.’ What kind of misunderstanding can the length of a skirt being short give rise to? Is the comment voiced by the one presiding over the court of ‘giving rise to misunderstanding’ with reference to skirt length grounds for reduction in women murder and sexual assault cases?”
The Jurists for Democracy group commented, “The lack of restraint of Istanbul Anatolian Labour Court No 2 manifesting itself in the wish to measure the length of a women lawyer’s skirt at a hearing is being protested. This is not just lack of restraint, but harassment. The Board of Judges and Prosecutors must launch an investigation into this judge forthwith and dismiss him.”
The Union of Turkish Bar Associations commented as follows in the written comment it made on the matter:
“A court judge has taken issue with a woman lawyer’s attire. He has abused his authority. At the same time, our colleague was pressurized and harassed in this way. He abandoned the matter he was judging and presumed to judge our colleague for her attire. He even attempted to take a photograph.
This judge is a person who previously insulted one of our colleagues from the bench and beat him up in Balıkesir. He has problems. The incident that took place today is the consequence of this person being kept in the post of judge following this event.
Discussions were immediately held with the Board of Judges and Prosecutors by Union of Turkish Bar Associations Chair Metin Feyzioğlu, Attorney-at-Law. The Board of Judges and Prosecutors has currently launched an investigation into the judge. We hope our colleague will get over her ordeal. We will undoubtedly monitor this event until the end.”
A statement made by Izmir Bar Association read, “We reject the male-oriented judiciary of patriarchs who have appointed themselves as arbiters of a woman’s attire, speech, eating and drinking and when, where and with whom she may consort, and this judiciary’s representatives. This act on the part of the person who takes issue with the length of the skirt worn by a woman colleague during a hearing before Istanbul Anatolian Labour Court No 2 and assumes the title of judge is impudence to put it at its mildest. It is ironic for the person who looks at the skirts worn by women in the courtroom rather than the files before him to speak of ethics. We will continue our struggle against the manifestation in the judiciary of the perception of hatred and discrimination that is being stoked up against women in society.” (EVRENSEL DAILY)
(Translated by Tim DRAYTON)
Ceren Sözeri
Yusuf Karadaş
Aras Coşkuntuncel