Bar associations bill: Police use pepper spray against lawyers at Ankara courthouse

Photos: Burcu Yıldırım, Twitter

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The police have used pepper spray against lawyers who gathered at Ankara Courthouse to make a statement for the press about a new law proposal to change the Attorneys' Act.

The lawyers were also going to file a criminal complaint against the Governor's Office, which banned the rally of lawyers today (July 3).

After lawyers gathered in front of the courthouse, the police warned them to disperse because of the measures against the pandemic. They then shoved lawyers with their shields and used pepper spray on them.

Ankara Bar Association Chair Erinç Sağkan said, "You want to sew buttons to our robes by splitting bar associations. You want everyone to be silent," referring to the proposal which foresees multiple bar associations to be founded in larger cities.

"You say, 'The bars went too far.' As long as you continue to make the judiciary dependent, we'll continue to 'go too far'," he said, Gazete Duvar reported.

Lawyers faced police intervention after they attempted to march after Sağkan's statement.

Under the bill, bars that have more than 5,000 members can split into other bars so long as they have at least 2,000 lawyers. Only some larger cities, including İstanbul and Ankara, have this many members.

There are a total of 127,691 lawyers in Turkey, according to the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB). Among the three largest provinces of the country, İstanbul has 46,052, Ankara, the capital, has 17,598, and İzmir has 9,612 lawyers.

Each bar association in the provinces will be represented by three delegates and a president in the General Assembly of the TBB.

In the first week of September, elections for bar associations would be held and in December for the General Assembly. Elections would be held every two years for the bars and every four years for the union. (AS/VK)