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The parliament has approved two articles of the "Law Proposal for the Amendment of the Attorney's Act and Some Laws" prepared by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
According to the two articles, attorneys can register at any of the bar associations in a province where there are more than one bar and trainee solicitors do their second six-month internship with a lawyer registered at the same bar association with them.
The bill allowing multiple bar associations in a province has been widely criticized and protested by lawyers, who say that it would divide lawyers among political lines.
Tensions rose during the negotiations
Tensions rose at the parliament during independent MP and journalist Ahmet Şık's speech.
"Regardless of their political characteristics, governments do not want to limit themselves with the law. It is your work that Turkey has lost its relation to any legal norms because the judiciary is at its meanest period," Şık said.
"With the law made a tool for hatred, with a dictatorial administration, courthouses have become black holes swallowing the judiciary. The political law order that allows the government to take and implement arbitrary decisions is called tyranny or a regime of oppression."
Under the law, bar associations that have more than 5,000 members can split into other bar associations as long as they have at least 2,000 lawyers, effectively allowing multiple bar associations in larger cities. 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 (TBB). |
After AKP's parliamentary group deputy chair Bülent Turan responded to him from his desk, Şık said, "Shut up. What a motormouth you are."
Turan stood up after Şık's words but other deputies appeased him. The speaker took a break.
Completing his speech after the break, Şık said, "I'm not a professional politician like you and I will never be."
Turan requested Şık to be dismissed from the parliament for two sessions on the ground that he insulted President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by calling the administration a "tyranny."
Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Celal Adan issued a warning to Şık as per Article 157 of the parliament's internal regulation. (TP/VK)
