While Erdoğan continues to target the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) for defending peace, the general secretary of the Istanbul Chamber of Physicians notes that the TTB has always objected to all kinds of violence

Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is continuing to attack the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and other professional chambers over their opposition to Ankara’s war against Efrîn (Afrin), but the assaults have prompted resistance from professionals.

“All governments have perceived us as their opponents,” the general secretary of the Istanbul Chamber of Physicians, Dr. Samer Mengüç, recently told Sendika.Org. “We have already faced a similar situation with the existing government in recent years. The health policies of the government and the policies defended by TTB are polar opposites. We have always criticized the false health policies of the government.”

Eleven members of the TTB’s central board were recently detained for criticizing the government’s operation in Afrin, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attacked the association again on 8 February during a regularly meeting with village headmen, pledging to remove the word “Turkish” from the entity’s name.

“Nowadays they are tweeting, they are alleging that we are supposedly against the concepts of Turkish and Turkey. Why; because we want to remove the names Turkish from the TTB. This institution has nothing to do with Turkishness, they also have nothing to do with the concept of being Turkish,” he said. “You will not be able to use either the concept of Turkish or the name of Turkey.”

In addition to the TTB, the Turkish Union of Bar Associations will also be prohibited from using the name Turkish, Erdoğan said, adding that doctors and lawyers would be able to establish their own organizations instead of the two entities that have drawn government ire.

The move brought a retort from Raşit Tükel, the president of the TTB’s Central Council. “If the professional chamber defends the values of doctors, changing the name of the organization or other practices are all pointless.”

Mengüç also said it was against the law to permit the establishment of institutions that would wield as much power as parent professional chambers such as the TTB. However, the government could enact such regulations – even if they are unconstitutional – by imposing state of emergency decrees, he said.

The doctor also said the principles defended by the TTB could clash with the ambitions of any government. “The TTB has objected to all kinds of violence, including wars, within the scope of protecting the rights and freedoms of people and defending the rule of law in accordance with the international rules regarding human health.”

Mengüç also said they have launched hundreds of legal cases against the Health Ministry over the years, noting that 95 to 97 percent of such cases were won by the TTB, even if “most of these court decisions were not actually applied.”

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