Turkey's top court rejects appeal filed by main opposition for cancellation of 'multiple bars' law

Turkey's Constitutional Court on Oct. 1 rejected an appeal that demanded the cancellation of a recent law that changes the structure of bar associations. The appeal was filed by the main opposition CHP which says that the new law, which allows multiple bar associations to be formed in each province, is against the Constitution.

Thursday October 01 2020 05:53 pm

Duvar English

Turkey's Constitutional Court on Oct. 1 rejected an appeal filed by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) for the cancellation of a recent law that changes the structure of bar associations.

The Constitutional Court's decision was taken by a majority of votes. The top court will release its detailed ruling later.

The CHP says that this new law is against the Constitution and therefore had filed filed an application with the top court for its annulment.

In July, Turkish parliament passed a law which allows multiple bar associations to be formed in each province, diluting the institutions’ power. The bill was passed with the votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (AKP).

The law allows bar associations that have more than 5,000 members to split into other bar associations as long as they have at least 2,000 lawyers.

Following the passage of the controversial legislation, a group of lawyers close to the government last week submitted their application to the Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) to form a second bar association in Istanbul. On Sept. 25, the TBB granted Istanbul's second bar association an official license to run its activities.