Bill to ‘split bar associations’ in three cities submitted to Parliamentary Speaker’s Office

* Photo: Esra Bilgin - İstanbul / AA

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Foreseeing the establishment of more than one bar association in a city, the Bill on Amendments to the Attorneys' Act and Some Laws was submitted to the Parliamentary Speaker's Office today (June 30).

According to the bill jointly prepared by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) MPs, lawyers can register in any bar association if there are more than one bar association in the city. The bill foresees that a bar association will be established by a minimum of 2,000 lawyers if there are over 5,000 lawyers in a city.

According to the figures of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB), while 17,598 lawyers are registered in Ankara Bar Association, 46,052 lawyers are registered in İstanbul Bar and 9,612 lawyers in İzmir. The total number of registered lawyers across the country is 127,691.

That being the case, the bill "to split bar associations" is likely to affect these three bars with over 5,000 lawyers.

'We went through rigorous study'

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), ruling AKP Deputy Group Chair Cahit Özkan addressed the reporters at the Parliament.

"For the bars that have more than 5,000 members, we are bringing a regulation that at least 2,000 lawyers can form the second, the third or the fourth bar by coming together," Özkan has said about the bill.

Each bar association in the provinces will be represented by three delegates and a president in the General Assembly of Union of Turkish Bar Associations, Özkan has noted and added, "Before bringing the regulation, we went through rigorous study."

According to the bill, the lawyers will pay half of the bar fee in the first five years of their career. In the first week of September, elections for bar associations will be held and those for the General Assembly of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) will be held in December. The elections will be held every two years for the bars and every four years for the union.

Bar associations object to the bill

Protesting the amendments planned to be introduced to the Attorneys' Act by the AKP and MHP, the chairs of several bar associations of Turkey started a march to the capital city of Ankara on June 19.

However, on June 21, they were blocked at the entrance of Ankara, where they had to spend the night behind police barricades and under heavy rain. Bar chairs were kept waiting there for 26 hours.

After former Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) Chair Önder Sav met with Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and the bar chairs announced that "they would call on all lawyers across Turkey to come to Ankara," they were allowed to enter the city on June 23 and ended the march.

CLICK - 'We Don't Approve the Attempts to Change Election System of Bar Associations'

On May 19, 2020, all 80 bar associations affiliated with the TBB and TBB Chair Metin Feyzioğlu released a statement in response to President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's hints that the election systems of professional organizations might be changed by a law amendment.

"We do not approve the attempts to amend the provisions of the Attorneys' Act pertaining to bar associations and their election system," the bar associations said in their joint statement and called on the authorities "to stop and withdraw these attempts." (AS/SD)