Sevgi Çetin, Samsun Bar Association, has posted The Formative Years of the Legal Profession in Turkey, “an extended version of the presentation given on 21 June 2026 at the 2026 Working Group on the Legal Profession Meeting at Erasmus University Rotterdam.”
This article aims to shed light on the formative years of the legal profession in Turkey, from the Ottoman Empire to the Republican era. Especially, the period from the introduction of the first legal code for lawyers in 1876, to the enactment of the current code in 1969 will be examined.
The legal profession is relatively new in Turkey. It was established in the late 19th century, during the Ottoman era. The pioneering lawyers focused on two key issues in order to establish a professional identity.
Firstly, they aimed to create a monopoly for law school graduates to become lawyers and represent people in court. Secondly, they wanted to establish a self-governing professional organisation to have a say in the legal affairs of the country.
The bureaucrats of the time were also interested in these issues. However, their perspective was somewhat different. For a long time, the government was reluctant to favour a professional monopoly. This was because they upheld the traditional legal understanding that any adult male could represent the parties involved in court proceedings. State officials viewed bar associations as a means of controlling the legal profession. They did not welcome attempts by lawyers to establish an organisation free from state control.
To understand these developments, first it will be provided an introduction to the relevant era and the regulations of the legal profession at that time. The personal histories of some notable lawyers from that period,will be presented as well. Finally, it will be discussed the extent to which lawyers achieved the mentioned goals.
--Dan Ernst
