Metin Feyzioğlu

On 10 October 2010, Feyzioğlu was elected as the President of the Ankara Bar Association, to which he had been registered since 1991. He obtained 58% of the votes in the 61st Ordinary General Assembly. He was re-elected in the 62nd Ordinary General Assembly, this time winning 60% of the vote.

On 10 May 2014, Feyzioğlu gave a speech during an event marking the 146th anniversary of the Turkish Council of State. His speech lasted for over 40 minutes longer than scheduled, prompting the then-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to interrupt and protest against the extension. Erdoğan accused Feyzioğlu of 'speaking politically and wrongly', to which Feyzioğlu replied 'what am I saying wrongly?'.[7] In response, Erdoğan accused Feyzioğlu of shamelessness, an allegation that Feyzioğlu denied and claimed 'I would never see it in myself to accuse someone of being shameless'.[8] Following the argument, Erdoğan and numerous other government members walked out on the speech, with many commentators drawing attention to how President Abdullah Gül followed Erdoğan out. Many commentators claimed that this showed that Erdoğan had dominance over both the government and the Presidency.[9]

Having received a surge in support by CHP members following his argument with Erdoğan, Feyzioğlu was pitched by several members as a possible CHP presidential candidate in the presidential election scheduled for August 2014.[10][11] In response to questions over a possible candidacy, Feyzioğlu replied saying that it was out of the question, though stated that he would tell the media if he received an offer from the CHP to stand as their candidate.[12][13] The CHP eventually fielded Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu as a joint candidate with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), who ended up losing the election to Erdoğan.

After the CHP and MHP's joint candidate Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu lost the presidential election, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu announced that the party would hold an extraordinary convention following criticisms of his electoral performance. Rumours arose that Feyzioğlu was preparing to stand against Kılıçdaroğlu in the leadership election, having long been critical of Kılıçdaroğlu's leadership.[14] Feyzioğlu subsequently stated that he was looking at a possible leadership bid, but later stated that he would not stand. Feyzioğlu criticised the delegate system, which political parties had to use according to law, as undemocratic, since the party leader (Kılıçdaroğlu) is essentially responsible for choosing the delegates that get to vote in the leadership election.[15]

Following the June 2015 general election, in which the CHP vote declined by 1%, Feyzioğlu called for Kılıçdaroğlu's resignation and a new extraordinary convention.[16][17] His statement was met by fierce criticism from the Ankara Bars Association, which called for Feyzioğlu's resignation as Turkish Bars Association President for breaching neutrality. Their calls for his resignation were dismissed by Feyzioğlu.[18]

When the Chairmen of all Bar Associations in Turkey began a protest against the government's proposals for changing the Bar Associations Law, Feyzioğlu failed to stand with them, and stayed silent when police physically attacked protesting chairmen. After a day of silence, he tried to visit the protesting chairmen, but was summarily dismissed by the chairmen, all of whom turned their backs to him, telling "he should better leave."[19]