Turkish system seeks to pass a law allowing establishment of auxiliary unions for lawyers: Lawyers refuse
Turkish lawyers, members of the Bar Association, continue their symbolic protests in front of the Turkish Parliament after the approval of the “Justice Committee” in Parliament on the articles of a law that proposes amendments to the mechanism of work of their union and its internal system, in preparation for approval later within a law that Recep Tayyip Erdogan will sign before publishing it in the official newspaper, to enter into effect.
Lawyer Masoud Ozar, a member of the Turkish Bar Association in its main branch in the capital, Ankara, expressed his opposition to the plurality of his professional union through the amendments proposed by both the ruling Justice and Development parties led by Erdogan and the far-right “National Movement“.
“The main goal behind these amendments is to create a crack in the ranks of the lawyers by allowing their union to multiply by opening more than one of its branches in major cities in Turkey,” said Ozar, a well-known lawyer responsible for defending the former joint head of the detained Peoples Democratic Party, Salah al-Din Demirtaş. It originally housed the union’s main offices and representatives. “
He continued that “these amendments are expected to be subject to discussion next Thursday, to be voted on at the beginning of next week, and we do not rule out their formal approval after that, especially since Erdogan’s party and the nationalist movement have a parliamentary majority.”
He added in an interview with Al-Arabiya network, “These amendments will allow the creation of equivalent unions within our current unions to support the ruling party and its ally, which we absolutely reject, so we continue our protests in front of the gates of parliament today, and we will continue in this matter even if all these amendments are approved within a new law.”
He also pointed out that “the main opposition party will go to object to the Supreme Constitutional Court in the event that Parliament approves the proposed amendments to the work of our union that includes more than 127 thousand attorneys,” explaining that “the Constitutional Court may repeal this law or may prevent its entry into force for some time if What I sent back to Parliament for amendments within a period of 6 months to a year. “
For his part, Omar Ocalan the Turkish parliament member of the HDP, stressed that “the current amendments related to the work mechanism of the Bar Association, consisting of 27 articles, and all 600 deputies must discuss them in order for them to vote, so that they can then be transformed into a new legal text.” in the country“.
He added: “These materials do not need many sessions to discuss them due to the small number of them,” noting that “the first discussion sessions begin next Thursday and will not last for more than a week.”
Both the main opposition parties, the Republican People and the Democratic Peoples, reject these amendments that would impose a “governmental trusteeship” on the bar and its branches in major Turkish cities such as Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, especially since the amendments require the creation of more than one union in the states Where the number of lawyers exceeds 5 thousand.
On Monday, the “Justice Committee” in the Turkish parliament approved the articles of the law proposed by the Justice and Development Party and its ally the National Movement Party, in preparation for approval next week, despite its rejection by 63 of the 79 heads of branches of the bar association throughout the country.
