Is the Turkish Constitutional Complaint System on the Verge of a Crisis?

On the 11 January 2018 the Turkish Constitutional Court (TCC) delivered two decisions on the constitutional complaints of two journalists – Mehmet Altan and Şahin Alpay. The author argued that considering the conjuncture of Turkey, one could say that the TCC acted relatively bravely in delivering these decisions, like it had in the case in its earlier Erdem Gül and Can Dündar decision in February 2016.

The author presents some of the related debates in the Turkish literature on this issue as well as some prospects for the future.

• Primary Source

Insight Turkey, Vol.18, No.4, Autumn 2016, p41-52: The Odyssey of the Turkish Constitutional Court into the World of Individual Application http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-odyssey-of-the-turkish-constitutional-court-into-the-world-of-individual-application/

Blog: Verfassungsblog, 22.01.18: Will Legalism be the End of Constitutionalism in Turkey? https://verfassungsblog.de/will-legalism-be-the-end-of-constitutionalism-in-turkey/

OSCE: Press Release, 11.01.18: OSCE representative Désir welcomes milestone ruling of Constitutional Court releasing Alpay and Altan, urges Turkey to release all journalists http://www.osce.org/fom/366066

Reporters without Frontiers: News, 12.01.18: Turkey: implement Constitutional Court decision to free journalists https://rsf.org/en/news/turkey-implement-constitutional-court-decision-free-journalists

Hürriyet Daily News, 12.01.18: Turkish government blasts Constitutional Court’s ruling on jailed journalists http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-top-court-rules-to-release-two-jailed-journalists-local-courts-refuse-125604

Blog: Verfassungsblog: Tag: Turkish Constitutional Court https://verfassungsblog.de/tag/turkish-constitutional-court/

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