Yesterday, the parliament in Turkey passed a controversial law that is speculated to further curb power from judiciary in favor of the presidency of Recep Tayib Erdogan.
The law is described by rights activists that it is changing the structure of bar associations, in a way that lawyers say will reduce the independence of the judiciary further in a country "where the status of the judicial system is already deteriorating under the administration of Erdogan," according to Reuters.
Earlier, thousands of lawyers demonstrated in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities to protest the plan, which they say is aiming at silencing institutions that are among the few that still publicly oppose the government's record on the rule of law and human rights.
The new legislation sets the basis for establishing more than one bar association in each region instead of the existing system that allows only one of those to exist, a fact that eventually would weaken those institutions.
Last week, Cahit Ozkan, a representative affiliated to President Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, said that the law was needed because unions were no longer able to operate properly after the number of lawyers in Turkey doubled by 13 times.
The parliament passed the bill, with 251 votes in the 600-seat assembly, and only 417 deputies participated in the vote. The Justice and Development Party has 291 seats in Parliament.
According to human rights organizations, the new legislation "appears to be designed to pide the legal profession according to political affiliations and eliminate the role of major bar associations in monitoring human rights."
The latest development came amid an ongoing social debate over the decision of Erdogan's administration to turn the Hagia Sophia church museum into Mosque.
Erdogan announced Friday the opening doors of the Hagia Sophia Church in Istanbul to Muslims for prayer, in the wake of the Turkish court annulling its current status as a museum.
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