Turkey amends legal guidelines to make it possible for many law firm associations

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s parliament has handed controversial legislation amending rules governing attorneys and bar associations, regardless of protests from critics who say the shift could limit the independence of lawyers and decrease the skilled associations’ clout.

The new legislation, submitted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s social gathering, passed early Saturday, following times of heated debate and pursuing scuffles in between police and legal professionals protesting the legislation.

The governing administration has claimed the regulation would develop a “more democratic and pluralistic” procedure. But detractors say the measure aims to reduce the affect of main bar associations that have been outspoken critics of Erdogan’s authorities and have documented legal rights violations.

The improve will come amid prevalent criticism of the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in Turkey.

The law lets various bar associations to be formed in a province. It also scraps proportional representation of bars in the nationwide umbrella firm, in outcome lowering the amount of delegates from Turkey’s major cities, which could reduce their funding.

The regulation would have an effect on the 3 main towns of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

The most important opposition Republican People’s Celebration, or CHP, has vowed to search for its cancelation by Turkey’s Constitutional Court docket.