Mehmet Yoylu complained that lawyer Tugce Cetin’s skirt was higher than the regulated 15cm above the knees and wanted to refer her to the bar association.

But lawyers in the courtroom protested.

“Women are waiting for an apology from you,” they reportedly chanted.

“What kind of disgrace is this! Instead of looking at lawyers’ legs, look at the file in front of you!” said lawyer Feyza Altun said on social media.

“We won’t leave this country to religious zealots.”

Mr Yoylu’s suspension is temporary, pending a review.

The incident has spawned a hashtag #etekboyu, meaning skirt length.

The newspaper Yenicag showed a judge measuring a female lawyer’s exposed leg while she measured the size of his brain.

“Our judicial system cannot allow anyone to be discriminated against based on their attire or lifestyle, or be exposed to arbitrary treatment,” Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul tweeted.

He said it was “unacceptable” that Mr Yoylu would be “preoccupied with not the case in front of him, but instead the lawyer’s attire”.