Turkish court bars top business group chair, executive from traveling abroad after they urged judicial independence

Turkish authorities temporarily detained the leading TÜSİAD business association’s chair Orhan Turan and executive Ömer Aras after they criticized the government and urged judicial independence. The court barred them from traveling abroad under judicial control measures.

Thursday February 20 2025 04:12 pm

The police bringing TÜSİAD President Orhan Turan and its executive Ömer Aras (behind) to the courthouse for their testimonies to be taken on Feb. 19 in Istanbul (ANKA).

Duvar English

A Turkish court has barred the president and an executive of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD), Orhan Turan and Mehmet Ömer Arif Aras, from travelling abroad under judicial control measures after they criticized the government last week.

In line with an investigation, the police brought Turan and Aras to the courthouse on Feb. 19.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into their last week remarks, accusing them of “attempting to influence a fair trial in (their) statements containing disinformation, which are contrary to the truth,” and “publicly spreading misleading information.”

Last week, Turan and Aras criticized corruption and judicial inconsistency, urging the establishment of judicial independence and rule of law in the country during the association’s meeting.

They warned of the many issues Turkey faced such as trustee appointments, femicides, disastrous workplace accidents, widespread corruption, and arrests of journalists and mayors.

Aras is also the chair of QNB's Turkish banking unit.

They were brought to the courthouse after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan targeted them on the same day on Feb. 19.

Speaking during his party’s parliamentary group meeting, Erdoğan said the association had “overstepped” and dismissed it as a remnant of the past.

“You will not provoke the people, you will not provoke the institutions of the state. You will not try to put the judiciary under pressure. TÜSİAD will learn to know its place,” he said.

Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç argued that the investigation started before Erdoğan spoke, but their testimonies coincided with his speech. He also argued that they were not detained.

“Those who do not understand that Turkey is no longer ruled by privileged groups should know that no one or no organization can consider itself above the will of the nation and the law,” he also argued.

The prosecutors claimed that Turan and Aras “made statements with disinformation content contrary to the truth by suggesting and directing the judiciary regarding the events that they had knowledge of through the press and of which they had no knowledge in terms of their content.”

TÜSİAD president Turan said he was travelling to around 80 countries for export and asked for the rejection on the prosecutors' request of his ban on leaving the country, Furkan Karabay from Duvar reported.

In his testimony, Aras said he made the speech subject to the investigation on “what needs to be done for the Turkish economy to move forward.”

On Feb. 20, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel criticized the move and said Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek “can reduce his presentation to a single slide and show a photo of the TÜSİAD chair in the arms of two police officers as proof that the investment climate in Turkey is so favorable.”

In a written statement on Feb. 18, TÜSİAD said it was their “responsibility towards our country to contribute with our knowledge, experience and suggestions to our common goals that will carry our country forward.”