Constitutional Court
Anayasa Mahkemesi
Constitutional Court building inAnkara
Interactive map of Constitutional Court
39°50′42″N32°47′24″E / 39.845°N 32.79°E /39.845; 32.79
Established	25 April 1962
Location	Ahlatlıbel,Çankaya,Ankara
Coordinates	39°50′42″N32°47′24″E / 39.845°N 32.79°E /39.845; 32.79
Motto	"Rights and freedoms are dignity and virtue of humanity"
Composition method	Legislative/Executive appointment
Authorised by	Constitution of Turkey
Judge term length	12 years or until age 65
Number of positions	15
Website	www.anayasa.gov.tr
President of the Constitutional Court
Currently	Kadir Özkaya
Since	2024
Lead position ends	4 years (renewable)
Vice Presidents of the Constitutional Court
Currently	Basri Bağcı &Hasan Tahsin Gökcan
Since	2019
Lead position ends	4 years (renewable)

TheConstitutional Court of Turkey (Turkish:Anayasa Mahkemesi orAYM) is the highest legal body for constitutional review inTurkey. It "examines the constitutionality, in respect of both form and substance, of laws, decrees having the force of law, and the Rules of Procedure of theTurkish Grand National Assembly" (Article 148/1 of theTurkish Constitution). If necessary, it also functions as theSupreme Criminal Court (Turkish:Yüce Divan) to hear any cases raised about thePresident,Vice President, members of theCabinet, or judges of the high courts. In addition to those functions, it examines individual applications on the grounds that one of the fundamental rights and freedoms within the scope of theEuropean Convention on Human Rights which are guaranteed by the Constitution has been violated by public authorities (Article 148/3 of the Turkish Constitution).

The Court is the seat of the Center for Training and Human Resources Development of theAssociation of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions.

Part Four, Section Two of the Constitution establishes the Constitutional Court that rules on the constitutionality ofstatutes andPresidential executive orders. The Court rules on issues referred to it by the President, the members of Parliament, or any judge before whom an exception of unconstitutionality has been raised by adefendant or aplaintiff. The Constitutional Court has the right to botha priori anda posteriori review (respectively, before and after enactment), and it can invalidate whole laws or governmental decrees and prevent their application in future cases. Challenges to a law must be made within the first two months of its promulgation. The court decides over the parliamentary immunity of the members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and has the authority to ban political parties.^[1][2]

According to Article 146 of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court is composed of fifteen members.

The President appoints:

• three members from a list of three candidates for each vacant position nominated by theCourt of Cassation among its own members,
• two members from a list of three candidates for each vacant position nominated by theTurkish Council of State among its own members,
• three (at least two of whom being lawyers) members from a list of three candidates for each vacant position nominated by theHigher Education Council among professors of law, economy or political sciences, who are themselves not members of the council, and
• four members among senior administrative officers, attorneys-at-law, judges, prosecutors, andRapporteur Judges with at least five years of experience.

The Parliament appoints by secret ballot:

• two members from a list of three candidates for each vacant position nominated by the Court of Accounts (Turkish:Sayıştay) among its own members,
• one member from a list of three candidates for each vacant position nominated by the heads ofbar associations among attorneys-at-law.

A two-thirds majority is required in the first ballot; if this majority is not reached, the absolute majority of MP´s is required in the second ballot and. Failing this, a runoff election among the two candidates with the greatest number of votes will determine the winner. Ultimately, therefore, the dominant political force in parliament will decide by relative majority.

To qualify for appointments as a member of the Court, professors, senior administrative officers, and attorneys-at-law are required to be over the age of 40 and to have completed their higher education or to have served at least 15 years as teaching staff of institutions of higher education or to have actually worked at least 21 years in public service or to have practiced as a lawyer for at least 21 years.

The Constitutional Court elects apresident and vice presidents from among its regular members for a renewable term of four years by secret ballot and by an absolute majority of their members. The members of the Constitutional Court are not allowed to assume other official and private functions, apart from their main functions.

The Constitutional Court consists of 15 members:

The Constitutional Court of Turkey was established on 25 April 1962, according to the provisions of theconstitution of 1961. Prior to that date, absolute superiority of the parliament was adopted as a constitutional principle, with nojudicial review. There existed no legal institution to review the constitutionality of laws passed by the parliament, and of acts and actions of governments. The social democratic opposition, intellectuals, and the military junta that came into power bymilitary coup on 27 May 1960, supported limitation and control of the parliamentary power in the face of abuses of parliamentary majority by theDemocratic Party governments (1950–60) under the premiership ofAdnan Menderes. TheJustice Party, a descendant of the Democratic Party; as well asJustice and Development Party have rejected the idea of judicial review, pushing for parliamentary superiority.

The first decision the court gave is dated 5 September 1962, which was published on the Official Gazette on 3 October 1962. It was about a direct petition by a certain İnaç Tureren for the annulment of an article of the Law of Criminal Procedure (Ceza Muhakemeleri Usûlü Kanunu -CMUK), which was claimed to be violating the provisions of Article 30 of the constitution. The court turned down the case, stating that individual application to the court was constitutionally impossible.^[3]

The first president of the court wasSünuhi Arsan, who served for two years (1962–64). Following the second (Ömer Lütfi Akadlı - 1964–66) and the third (İbrahim Senil - 1966–68) presidents, the court failed to elect a president for 29 months (until 1970) during which it was headed by an acting president.

The articles of the constitution regulating the structure of the court were slightly amended in 1971 and 1973.

Although the constitution of 1961 was annulled by the military regime that came into the power with themilitary coup of 12 September 1980, the court went on operating. It currently operates according to theconstitution of 1982.

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(August 2023)

• Decision no. 1989–12, dated 7 March 1989: The Court, in response to then presidentKenan Evren's application for annulment of a law passed by parliament, ruled that wearingheadscarves in public universities violated theseparation of religion and state.
• Decision no. 1994–2, dated 16 June 1994: The Court ruled to close theDemocracy Party (Demokrasi Partisi – DEP), a pro-Kurdish party, on the grounds that it violated the principle of territorial/national integrity and indivisibility.
• Decision no. 1998–1, dated 16 January 1998: The Court ruled to close theWelfare Party (Refah Partisi – RP), an Islamist party, on the grounds that it was violating the principle ofsecularism.
• Decision no. 2001–2, dated 21 June 2001: The Court ruled to close theVirtue Party (Fazilet Partisi – FP), the successor to the Welfare Party. The decision, however, stated that the Court did not consider the FP to be the continuation of the RP, but cited the Islamist policies followed by the party as the main reasons behind the closure.
• Decision no. 2001–332, dated 18 July 2001: The Court, in response to applications made by regular courts, ruled that some parts of the Amnesty Law passed by the parliament were unconstitutional, which resulted in a minor expansion in the scope of the proposed amnesty.
• Decision dated 2008/7/30: In the2008 Justice and Development Party closure trial, the court ruled that theJustice and Development Party did not violate the separation of religion and state and did not close it, but noted that it had become "a center for anti-secular activities" and cut the state's funding of the party's activities by 50%.^[4]
• Decision dated 2009/12/11: The court decided toban the Democratic Society Party (DTP) for its links to theKurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group. It argued theDTP violated Articles 68 and 69 of the Constitution and the Political Parties Law.^[5] "The party became a focal point for terrorism against the indivisible integrity of the state.", statedHaşim Kılıç, president of the Court.^[5]
• Decision dated 26 December 2019 lifting theban on Wikipedia.^[6]

• Judicial system of Turkey
• Constitution
• Constitutionalism
• Constitutional economics
• Jurisprudence
• Rule of law
• Judiciary
• Rule According to Higher Law
• Rapporteur Judge
• Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions

• Arik, K. Fikret (2 July 1962)."La Cour constitutionnelle turque".Revue internationale de droit comparé (in French).14 (2).Persée:401–412.doi:10.3406/ridc.1962.13364.
• Silvia von Steinsdorff, Ece Göztepe, Maria Haimerl, and Felix Petersen.The Constitutional Court of Turkey: Between Legal and Political Reasoning. NOMOS (2022).doi.org/10.5771/9783845288628.

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