The first Bar Association to be founded in our country was the İstanbul Bar Society (İstanbul Barosu Cemiyeti) set up in 1870. The Society had 33 lawyers, 5 of whom were Ottoman citizens and the others were foreign nationals.

The Law on Attorneys (Mehakimi Nizamiye Dava Vekilleri Hakkında Nizamname) enacted in 1876 set forth rules for the entry, discipline, dismissal and other relevant rules related with legal profession and provided for the establishment of a professional society. Articles 30 to 40 of the above mentioned Law govern establishment of the Society of Attorneys (Dava Vekilleri Cemiyeti) as well as its executive and disciplinary boards.

The first Ottoman Bar Association, İstanbul Bar Association, was set up on April 5th, 1878 by 62 lawyers. From this date onward, several bar associations were established in different parts of our country with the status of “association”. So a “bar association” was set up in Ankara . We continue our efforts to find out the date of its establishment and the fields of activity. In this connection the albums published by the Ankara Bar Association speak of a professional body before 1924 and Mr. Salih SIRRI is referred to as the President. As the beginning of the presidency term is here stated to be 1920, we are impelled to consider that the association had existed in 1920. Furthermore, a seal dated 1923 is found in our archives. So it follows that the Ankara Bar Association was in activity before 1924.

The Law on Legal Profession (Muhamat) no. 460 enacted in 1924 requires that if the number of lawyers practicing in a district reaches to 10, they must form a society or association which shall be called “bar association”. The Law also prohibits performing the legal profession without being registered to a bar association.

When the Law on Legal Profession entered into force, the Ankara Bar Association, having completed its organization, became legally established on July 14^th, 1924.