Attorneys from the Reform in the Judiciary Group (Yargıda Reform Grubu) have called for a “yes” vote in the Sept. 12 referendum for a constitutional amendment package.

Lawyers from the group gathered yesterday in front of the İstanbul Bar Association and walked toward Galatasaray High School on İstiklal Street in Taksim. Serhat Şendilmen, a lawyer with the group, read the press statement, which stated that the current Constitution, passed in 1982, is “stained” because it is a product of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup. “We will either leave a more democratic future to our children or we will leave them the faults, injustices, ills and brutality of the past like a virus. The public, which does not give credit to coup supporters, will discredit those who leave such a legacy behind,” he said.Şendilmen added that if the reform package is approved, there will be more room for personal rights and freedoms. He also said that people should not vote on the package along party lines.In his statement, he also pointed out that people should remember those who were brutally tortured in the years of the military coup and its aftermath. “They are not fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. They are facts,” he said.“The masters of the current system expect us to believe that the new constitution will lead to a civilian dictatorship. In the past they told us that communists would take over the country, and then they said reactionaries would come. Neither happened. They just pumped up fear within the society,” he said. After reading their statement, the group distributed brochures explaining why they say “yes” to the reform package.Meanwhile, they are critical of a photographer from the İstanbul Bar Association that came to the event and had his picture taken with the group. Attorneys from the Reform in the Judiciary Group claim this was a plot by the İstanbul Bar Association to have them recorded. 27 August 2010, FridayHASAN KARALI/METIN ÇOLAK