HDP: Bar associations bill aimed at 'making bars dysfunctional'

Photo: Ankara/AA

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The government should withdraw the bill allowing multiple bar associations in provinces, according to Meral Danış Beştaş, the parliamentary group chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a lawyer.

She and other HDP lawmakers attended the conference wearing robes.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) submitted the bill to the parliament yesterday (June 30). The bill foresees that new bar associations can be established with at least 2,000 members in cities with more than 5,000 lawyers.

The bill will be negotiated at the parliament's justice committee.

CLICK - 'New law will cause political divisions between bars,' says main opposition head

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.

"The ruling power, which abolished the law and destroyed the principles of the state of law, is now trying to deprive people of the security of the law. They want to divide and break down the defense. The judiciary will be completely finished when the defense collapses.

"Although the ruling power has taken all the institutions of the country under its influence, it is having the problem of not being able to exert influence on bars and professional organizations. For this reason, it wants to interfere with bars and their elections.

"When it cannot influence them, they want to make them dysfunctional. Its purpose here is nothing but breaking the integrity of lawyers, limiting the right of representation of lawyers representing the majority and suppressing dissenting voices.

"This proposal does not only concern lawyers and bar associations. It is a proposal that will prevent the rights and freedoms of everyone to seek rights.

"Bar associations, which are the professional chambers of lawyers, along with being public institutions, also have the duties of defending human rights and the rule of law and participate in these cases.

"I'm calling out to 82 million. This offer will eliminate all of your rights seeking ways. Whether it is your compensation case, divorce case, a criminal trial..."

What does the proposal say?

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.

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.

In the first week of September, elections for bar associations would be held and in December for the General Assembly of the Union of Turkish Bar associations.

Elections would be held every two years for the bars and every four years for the union.

How have lawyers reacted?

On June 20, bar chairs marched toward the capital Ankara to protest the proposed changes.

The police that blocked them from entering Ankara on the ground that the lawyers "did not have a permit and were violating physical distancing rules."

Hundreds of lawyer protested the bill at İstanbul Courthouse yesterday.

After being blocked at the entrance of the city for more than a day, the lawyers were allowed to visit Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of the country's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Videos on social media showed that the police got physical with lawyers did not allow the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality to hand out food to the lawyers.

(AS/VK)