Professional Liquidation in the Context of Autocratic Legalism: Lawyers, Class, and Status in Turkey, 2002–?

Abstract The relationship between law and autocratization is usually discussed with reference to the judiciary and how a powerful executive can encroach on the domain of the judicial branch. In this article, I suggest that the legal profession also needs to be brought into the discussion on autocratic legalism. Taking Turkey as my case, I put forward two main arguments: first, that, in national contexts where the legal profession is perceived to be originally and organically tied to the state—the “ ancien regime ” that aspiring autocrats try to dismantle—autocratic legalism involves efforts to overtake not only the judiciary but also such legal professional institutions as bar associations and their umbrella organizations and, second, that legal autocratization is made possible not only through such conscious/targeted attacks but also through processes and policies that are intended for other goals. In Turkey, the neoliberalization of legal education through a populist discourse and the consequent massive increase in the lawyer population has created heterogeneity and multiple fault lines within the profession. Such dynamics have created not only apathy, particularly on the part of young(er) lawyers, but also a weakening of the profession as a whole, preparing the groundwork for the more intentional attacks of the autocratic government. The result, I argue, is “professional liquidation.”