(Bloomberg) --

Turkish lawmakers passed a bill that will overhaul attorney organizations amid criticism that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration is seeking to tighten its grip on the judicial system and silence its critics.

Erdogan’s Justice & Development Party and its allies in the National Movement Party voted in favor of the bill, which allows for the establishment of multiple bar associations in major cities. That will clear the way for bar organizations to be split in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, through which almost 45% of the nation’s 127,000 lawyers are represented.

At least 78 of the existing 80 bar associations are against the bill, accusing the government of attempting to fracture the profession and silence attorneys who have regularly scrapped with his administration over its record on issues including human rights and the separation of powers.

Erdogan sparked a series of protests by lawyers last month after announcing he wants multiple bar associations, which he said would be more democratic and allow for wider viewpoints. In cities with more than 5,000 lawyers, new organizations can be formed with a minimum of 2,000 members, according to the proposal.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party, the nationalist Iyi Party and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party opposed the bill at parliamentary debates.

Read more: Erdogan Moves to Overhaul Attorney Groups That Probed His Rule

“We’ll challenge the bill to the Supreme Court,” Istanbul Bar Association Chairman Mehmet Durakoglu was cited as saying by broadcaster Tele 1.

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