The Court of Cassation, also called Supreme Court of Appeals of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Yargıtay Başkanlığı – ''Yargıtay'' for short) is the last instance for reviewing verdicts given by courts of criminal and civil justice in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.
History
The institution of the
court of appeals
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...
was
Divan
A divan or diwan ( fa, دیوان, ''dīvān''; from Sumerian ''dub'', clay tablet) was a high government ministry in various Islamic states, or its chief official (see ''dewan'').
Etymology
The word, recorded in English since 1586, meanin ...
in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
until the 19th century. The first modern court of appeals (''Divan-ı Ahkam-ı Adliye'') which was the first form of today's ''Yargıtay'' was established during the reign of
Abdülaziz on 6 March 1868.
[Short history (in English) on the official website]
; accessed on 3 May 2011 There are different view on the date of foundation. Some jurists hold that 6 March 1868 is the founding date when the
Padishah
Padishah ( fa, پادشاه; ; from Persian: r Old Persian: *">Old_Persian.html" ;"title="r Old Persian">r Old Persian: * 'master', and ''shāh'', 'king'), sometimes Romanization of Persian, romanised as padeshah or padshah ( fa, پادشاه; ...
announced his will and others hold that 1 April 1868, when the statute of the court was passed is the founding date.
[History of the Court of Cassation (Turkish)]
, on the official website; accessed on 3 May 2011 Its first president was
Ahmet Cevdet Pasha, the governor of
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
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.
[ The high court was composed of members from ]Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
and non-Muslim communities in a ratio of two thirds and one third respectively.[ The name "Divan-ı Ahkam-ı Adliye" was changed June 18, 1879 to "Mahkeme-i Temyiz" (Appeal Court) by an act on foundation of courts.][
During the ]Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...
, the "Mahkeme-i Temyiz" transferred its case files to a Temporary Committee of Appeals (''Muvakkat Temyiz Heyeti''), which was formed on June 7, 1920 in Sivas
Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province.
The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is a ...
by the Ankara Government
The Government of the Grand National Assembly ( tr, Büyük Millet Meclisi Hükûmeti), self-identified as the State of Turkey () or Turkey (), commonly known as the Ankara Government (),Kemal Kirişci, Gareth M. Winrow: ''The Kurdish Question and ...
that replaced the government in İstanbul upon the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
.[ On 7 June 1920 the ]Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...
passed a law that established four chambers for appeal cases referring to civil, criminal, religious justice and one for petitions.[ The Court of Cassation in Istanbul continued to exist. When Istanbul came under the reign of the national government on 4 November 1922 the courts were united by transferring the files from Istanbul to Sivas.][ The Temporary Committee of Appeals moved from Sivas to ]Eskişehir
Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...
on November 14, 1923 due to better transportation potential. At the same time, the committee's name was changed to Court of Appeals (Temyiz Mahkemesi).[
In 1935, the Supreme Court of Appeals moved to its new building in ]Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
, which was built by the renowned Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n architect Clemens Holzmeister
Clemens Holzmeister (27 March 1886 – 12 June 1983) was a prominent Austrian architect and stage designer of the early twentieth century. The Austrian Academy of Fine Arts listed his life's work as containing 673 projects. He was the father of ...
.[ On January 10, 1945, the name of the "Court of Appeals" was changed to "Court of Cassation" (Yargıtay). The latest act (Law 2797) related to the Court of Cassation is from February 4, 1983.][
]
Administration
The Court is divided into 30 chambers according to their particular specialized field. There are 20 civil chambers, 10 penal chambers.[Country of Origin Information on Turkey]
published by the UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
on 9 August 2010; accessed on 4 May 2011 Until 2001 there were 21 civil and 11 criminal chambers.[Section "About Us" on the official website]
, in English, accessed on 3 May 2001 A chamber has five members, one of which is president of the chamber. Judgments are taken by majority.[ One elected judge by the all judges of the Court of Cassation presides over the entire Court as general President.][ All presidents and judge-members of civil chambers form the General Civil Assembly, and all presidents and judge-members of criminal chambers constitute General Criminal Assembly (tr: ''Yargıtay Ceza Genel Kurulu'').][ The General Assemblies decide on cases, if the lower court does not comply with the chamber's decision, persisting in its own decision][ and on cases that the Chief Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation has appealed. There are 250 high judges, 32 heads of chamber and 440 Rapporteur-Judges whose duty is to carry out preliminary preparation and to explain case-file to the judge-members of this Court and 144 prosecutors working at the Court of Cassation.][ In the civil chambers, average case-file number which come to these chambers annually is 261,716 and duration of handling the case-file changes from two months to three months. In the criminal chambers, 139,025 case-files are concluded on the average annually.][
The High Court of Appeals is administered by the following judges (as of January 2021):
* ]Mehmet Akarca
Mehmet Akarca (born 21 January 1963 in Şirvan, Turkey) is a jurist, a former state prosecutor and the current President of the Court of Cassations in Turkey.
Education and early life
He attended high school in Karşıyaka and following stud ...
, First President
* Bekir Şahin
Bekir Şahin (born 1 March 1960, Mecitözü, Turkey) is a jurist, former judge and the current State Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation in Turkey.
Education
He was educated at the Imam Hatip school and studied law at the Dokuz Eylül Universi ...
, Chief Public Prosecutor
* Eyüp Yeşil
Eyüp () or Eyüpsultan is a district of the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The district extends from the Golden Horn all the way to the shore of the Black Sea. Eyüp is also the name of a prominent neighborhood and former village in the district, lo ...
, Deputy First President
* Adem Albayrak
Adem ( ota, آدم, ) corresponding to Adam (see also Adam in Islam), is a masculine given name common in Turkey and Bosnia.
Given name
* Adem Alkaşi (born 1984), Turkish footballer
*Adem Asil (born 1999), Turkish gymnast
*Adem Bereket (b ...
, Deputy First President
* Rıdvan Gündoğdu
Rıdvan is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Ridwan (Arabic: رِضْوَان ''riḍwān'') which the name also derived from the Islamic angel Ridwan and means "grace, pleasure, satisfaction and paradise". Notable people ...
, Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor
* Fevzi Yıldırım Fevzi is the Turkish form of the Arabic name Fawzi (فوزيّ) meaning "triumph". It may refer to:
Given name
* Fevzi Çakmak (1876–1950), Turkish field marshal
*Fevzi Davletov (born 1972), Uzbekistani footballer
*Fevzi Elmas (born 1983), Turk ...
, Secretary General
Reforms
As recorded in the European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
2005 report: “The Law Establishing the Intermediate Courts of Appeal came into force on 1 June 2005. The establishment of the Courts of Appeal will substantially reduce the case load of the Court of Cassation and enable it to concentrate on its function of providing guidance to lower courts on points of law of general public importance. The Law provides that the Courts are to be established within two years of its entry into force.”[ The progress report of the European Commission on Turkey dated 9 November 2010 stated: "The regional courts of appeal are not operational yet. By law, they should have been in operation by June 2007."
In the country report 2009 ]Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
wrote: "Decisions of Turkey’s Court of Cassation continued to flout international human rights law and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, and demonstrate that the judiciary remains a site of institutionalized resistance to reform."[Turkey: Events of 2009]
accessed on 4 May 2011 The organization criticized a March 2008 precedent decision by the General Penal Board of the Court of Cassation, ruling that individuals joining demonstrations where the Kurdistan Workers' Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...
(PKK) had called for public participation were to be charged with “membership” in the PKK for “committing a crime in the name of the organization.”[ In a report of 17 June 2010 Amnesty International called for an end of prosecution of children under anti-terrorism legislation.][press release of 17 June 2010]
; accessed on 4 May 2011 The organization stated, "Thousands of children in Turkey, some as young as 12, have been prosecuted under anti-terrorism legislation, solely for their alleged participation in demonstrations considered by the government to be in support of terrorism. Prosecutions are often based on insubstantive evidence or statements taken from the children under pressure. The anti-terrorism legislation that the children are prosecuted under is vague and overly broad in its wording and unfair in its application by judges and prosecutors."[ On 19 November 2010 Amnesty International referred to legal changes regarding trials of minors: "The Turkish government amended the law to prevent the prosecution of child demonstrators under anti-terrorism legislation solely for their alleged participation in demonstrations. Under these amendments, all children previously convicted under the Anti-Terror Law will have their convictions quashed and all children prosecuted under other laws will be tried in Children’s Courts rather than adult Special Heavy Penal Courts."
These and other criticisms led to further reforms. On 1 March 2011 the ]Law Library of Congress
The Law Library of Congress is the law library of the United States Congress. The Law Library of Congress holds the single most comprehensive and authoritative collection of domestic, foreign, and international legal materials in the world. Est ...
reported: "Turkey's Parliament passed a controversial judicial reform bill on February 9, 2011. Under the Law on the Amendment of Certain Laws, the highest level of the judiciary will be restructured. The Court of Appeals (Court of Cassation, Yargıtay, the highest court for civil and criminal cases) will have the number of its chambers increased to 38 from 32, and the Council of State (or Supreme Administrative Court, Danıştay, the country's highest administrative court) will have 15 divisions instead of the current 13.
In signing the bill into law on 14 February 2011, Turkish President Abdullah Gül
Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both ...
remarked that had he not approved it, "200,000 cases could have faced the statute of limitations."[(Turkish Judiciary Expresses Concern over New Law, HÜRRIYET DAILY NEWS (February 14, 2011), http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=judiciary-expresses-concern-over-approved-law-on-judiciary-2011-02-14 .)]
See also
* Judicial system of Turkey
The judicial system of Turkey is defined by Articles 138 to 160 of the Constitution of Turkey.
With the founding of the Republic, Turkey adopted a civil law legal system, replacing Ottoman law and the Sharia courts. The Civil Code, adopte ...
References
External links
Official site
{{Europe topic, Supreme Court of, title=Supreme Courts of Europe, countries_only=yes, template=yes
Courts in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
1868 establishments in the Ottoman Empire
Courts and tribunals established in 1868