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

Bar chairs protesting the bill at Atatürk's mausoleum (Photo: İstanbul Bar / Twitter)

Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has criticized a ruling party bill that would allow the country's bar associations to split into smaller groups.

Speaking to his Republican People's Party's (CHP) parliamentary group yesterday (June 30), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu claimed that the bill aims to split bar associations according to lawyers' religious and ethnic identities.

"Bars close to the government, bars against the government, bars split by ethnic identity, and bars split into religious identity... They want to form bars like that," claimed Kılıçdaroğlu.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) submitted the bill to the parliament yesterday.

He alleged such splits amount to "treason."

Kılıçdaroğlu called on his party's lawmakers to stand against the bill, saying it is meant to "polarize" Turkey.

HDP Co-Chair: Bill aims to form president-controlled bars

Speaking to her Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) parliamentary group, co-chair Pervin Buldan said that the bill aimed to form bar associations controlled by the president.

"They have brought up a suggestion of multiple-bar system. Their aim is to form president-controlled bar associations," Buldan said.

She added that the government wants to restrict lawyers' representation and "suppress the voice of opposition".

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party on Tuesday submitted a bill to regulate the country's bar associations.

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 a few 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.

What happened?

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.

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