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Istanbul Bar Association elects new chair in race with nine candidates
The Istanbul Bar Association is holding its chairperson election today at the Haliç Congress Center as part of its 128th Ordinary General Assembly. Nine candidates, including incumbent chair İbrahim Özden Kaboğlu, are competing in the election, in which 68,220 lawyers are eligible to vote.
The Istanbul Bar Association's 128th Ordinary General Assembly is continuing at the Haliç Congress Center. Following the assembly's proceedings on Saturday, October 24, lawyers went to the polls today to elect the bar association chairperson and members of its executive and other bodies. Voting began at 9:00 a.m. and will end at 5:00 p.m. Counting will begin after voting ends.
A total of 68,220 lawyers are eligible to vote. Election stands for the candidates and groups have been set up in tents outside the congress center, while the area has been busy since the morning.
Nine candidates compete for chair
Incumbent chair İbrahim Özden Kaboğlu, representing Lawyers for Change, is competing alongside former chairs Ümit Kocasakal, representing the Republican Power Union, and Hasan Kılıç, the joint candidate of Principle First Contemporary Lawyers and the Principle First CAG Rising Movement.
The other candidates are Osman Korkut Kanadoğlu of the Lawyers' Rights Group, Arife Gökkaya Dinç of Independent Lawyers, Atakan Adem Selanik of Republican Lawyers, Salih Uçar of the Turkish Nationalist Lawyers Group, Metin Üraçin of the Istanbul Lawyers' Union, and independent candidate Gülbeyaz Karadeniz.
In addition to the bar association chairperson, the election will determine the delegates who will represent the Istanbul Bar Association at the General Assembly of the Union of Bar Associations of Türkiye (TBB). Under the Attorneyship Law, each bar association elects 3 delegates, plus 1 additional delegate for every 5,000 members.
Election takes place amid lawsuits over the administration
Criminal and removal-from-office lawsuits were filed against Kaboğlu and members of the executive board over a statement issued by the bar association administration concerning two journalists who died in northern Syria in December 2024.
On January 9, 2026, the Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court acquitted Kaboğlu and 10 executive board members. The prosecution's appeal against the ruling was also rejected in October. The removal-from-office ruling issued by the Istanbul 2nd Civil Court of First Instance in March 2025 did not become final, allowing the administration to continue in office.
Eleven candidates competed in the 2024 election, in which Kaboğlu was elected chairperson with 7,197 votes. Hasan Kılıç received 5,537 votes, Mehmet Turgay Bilge received 4,993, and Filiz Saraç received 4,067. In that election, 30,039 of the 64,073 registered lawyers voted, for a turnout of 46.88 percent.
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