‘It will start with bar associations and affect other professional chambers as well’

* Photo: Evrim Kepenek - bianet / "Defense cannot be silenced"

Click to read the article in Turkish

Approved by the Parliament's Justice Committee on July 6, the bill foreseeing the establishment of more than one bar association in a city among many other changes in the structure of bars started to be debated at the General Assembly of the Parliament yesterday (July 8).

CLICK - Bill on multiple bars at General Assembly: 3 parties express dissenting opinions

Amid the debates, the bill jointly prepared by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) was protested in front of İstanbul Bar Association in Beyoğlu yesterday evening.

Addressing the crowd there, Nazan Moroğlu, the Vice Chair of İstanbul Bar Association, has noted that the system of attorneyship has changed and the bar associations are now being taken to a different direction.

As reported by Gazete Duvar news website, Moroğlu has briefly said:

'We won't let this unconstitutional bill'

"How this legal amendment was drafted, prepared and debated at the commission was all against the Constitution. 'We will silence the defense,' they say. No. We say, 'We will not stay silent.' We come together to lay claim to the honor of the profession.

"We will not let this unconstitutional bill. They are taking this unconstitutional text to the Parliament's General Assembly. Even if it is brought to the General Assembly, we believe that the Constitutional Court will repeal it.

'It will have effects on other professional chambers'

"The rule of law is our first priority. Do not let citizens' trust in the rule of law be undermined.

"This situation that has started with bar associations will also have effects on other professional chambers. We are proceeding all together in coordination with other professional chambers in İstanbul.

"There are lawyers and groups holding different opinions in bar associations. If we are faced with an unthinkable division, we are not divided there."

Özcan: It is the problem of us all

Zeki Özcan, a member of the İstanbul Chamber of Pharmacists Executive Board, has also briefly stated the following about the issue:

"What professional organizations do is not only about defending the rights and interests of the profession and their colleagues, but they also work for the public good and offer immeasurable economic and social benefits.

"Divided and weakened professional organizations will be turned into nothing more than a mere signboard, they will be nothing but a mere puppet. They will be unable to defend the rights of the profession, colleagues and citizens.

"This problem is the problem of us all, we will lose all together. Democracy will lose, so will the society and Turkey. We are calling out to Ankara once again: Keep your hands off professional organizations, do not touch professional organizations."

About the bill

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 on 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.

Cutting the number of delegates from large bars representing thousands of lawyers to the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB), the bill is also criticized for reducing the influence of large bar associations in electing the TTB's president and participating in other decision-making functions.

As pointed out by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a statement on July 8, "A provincial bar with fewer than 100 lawyers, such as Ardahan in northeastern Turkey, for example, would be represented by 4 delegates, compared with 3 at present. But a bar such as Izmir in western Turkey, with over 9,500 lawyers, which sends 35 delegates, would be entitled to only 5."

Accordingly, the İstanbul, Ankara, and Izmir Bar, Associations which represent 55 percent of the lawyers in Turkey, will be entitled to only 7 percent of all delegates within the national union.

The bill was approved by the Parliamentary Justice Commission on July 6. It is now being debated at the General Assembly. (EKN/SD)