İstanbul Bar elects first woman president in 144-year history

Photo: AA

Lawyer Filiz Saraç has become the İstanbul Bar Association's first woman president after yesterday's (October 23) vote.

"The İstanbul Bar Association is the symbol of the struggle for rights in its 144-year history. I would like to thank our bar, which gave me the honor of becoming its first woman president as we are about to enter the 100th anniversary of our Republic," Saraç said in a speech after winning the election.

"Thanks to the achievements of Atatürk and the Republic, I have this honor today. I bow respectfully before him."

Saraç, the candidate of the Contemporary Lawyers' Group, was one of the four women candidates. A total of nine candidates competed for the presidency of the bar.

The vote took place between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. yesterday, the second day of the bar's two-day general congress at the Haliç Congress Center in İstanbul's Beyoğlu district.

Some 23,918 lawyers cast votes in the assembly. Saraç got 7,101 votes, which accounts for 29.69 percent of all votes. 

With about 56,000 registered members, the İstanbul Bar is the world's largest bar association.

Saraç's nearest rivals, Hasan Kılıç and Mustafa Gökhan Ahi received 27.03 percent and 19.9 percent of the votes, respectively. Ahi was followed by Elif Görgülü, a board member of the bar and another woman candidate, with 8.03 percent of the votes.

With Saraç's election, the number of women bar presidents in the country rose to 13, with 70 bar associations chaired by men.

Türkiye's 81 provinces have a total of 83 bar associations. İstanbul and the capital of Ankara have two bar associations after the 2020 legislation allowing multiple bar associations in provinces. (VK)