Ümit Kocasakal (born 11 May 1966) is a Turkish lawyer and academic who served as the president of the Istanbul Bar Association between 7 November 2010 and 23 October 2016. He is a

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

of law and has been a political commentator critical of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) and their alleged encroachments on

judicial independence Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Having been elected as President of the Bars Association three consecutive times, Kocasakal did not seek a fourth term in 2016, resulting in speculation that he may enter politics from the main opposition

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP). He was succeeded by Mehmet Durakoğlu.

Early life and career

Ümit Kocasakal was born on 11 May 1966 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He completed his secondary education at

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School (, ), established in Istanbul in 1481, is the oldest and Selective school, highly selective high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational institution after Istanbul University, which was establi ...

in 1986 before graduating from the

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

Faculty of Law in 1990. After a brief career as a freelance lawyer, he joined Galatasaray University in 1995 as a Criminal and Criminal Procedural Law assistant. In 2000, he obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

after completing a thesis on money laundering charges. In 2005, he completed academic work on Principles of Criminal Law in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and became a

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

. After working as a lecturer at numerous universities, he became the dean of the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Law Department at the Galatasaray University Law Faculty, a position in which he still serves today. Having authored several articles and papers on legal issues, he also became a lecturer in criminal law at Yeditepe University.

President of the Istanbul Bar Association

On 7 November 2010, Kocasakal was elected as the President of the Istanbul Bar Association. He was elected for a second term on 14 October 2012 and for a third term on 19 October 2014. He did not stand as a candidate in the 23 October 2016 elections, which was won by his endorsement as his successor, Mehmet Durakoğlu. His departure from the presidency raised speculation that he may enter politics, having been seen as a potential CHP leadership candidate on numerous occasions. He continues to serve as a delegate to the

Turkish Bars Association The Turkish Bars Association (correctly, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations) or ''Türkiye Barolar Birliği'' (TBB) has been established in 1969 and is an organisation for Turkish lawyers, uniting over 70,000 lawyers in 79 Turkish bar associat ...

References

External links

Profile on the Galatasaray University website
*https://twitter.com/Umit_Kocasakal {{DEFAULTSORT:Kocasakal, Ümit Living people 20th-century Turkish lawyers Academic staff of Galatasaray University Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni 1966 births 21st-century Turkish lawyers

Early life and career

President of the Istanbul Bar Association

See also

References

External links