The Village Law ( tr, Köy Kanunu; Law No. 442 of 1924) is a

law 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, adopted i ...

regarding the villages of that country.

Provisions

Article 1 defines a village as a settlement with a population of less than 2,000 individuals.

Village headman and council of elders

Articles 9 through 11 of the Village Law regulate the positions of the headman () and council of elders ('), requiring that they be elected every four years by secret ballot. The headman is the link between the central government and the village. The law of 1924 also requires that a village is only a village if it has a

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. The law was substituted by the law No. 4916 of 2003.

Village guards

In 1985, Article 74 of the Village Law was amended to create the Temporary Village Guards () system.

Provisions relating to foreigners

Article 87 of the Village Law originally barred foreigners (or companies under the control of foreigners) from owning land in Turkish villages. It was amended in 1984 to permit the

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

to grant an exception to the bar on foreign ownership. The

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

struck down this amendment. The legislature passed a similar amendment in 1986, which was also struck down. Article 87 was repealed in 2003 by Article 19 of the Law Concerning Amendments to Various Laws and the Statutory Decree Concerning the Organisation and Duties of the Ministry of Finance (Law No. 4916 of 2003). As of 2012, Article 88 still bars foreigners from residing in Turkish villages without permission from the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

Amendments proposed in 2009

Amendments to the Village Law were proposed in 2009. The law had been in force for 85 years without major reorganisation by that point.

References

External links

*{{in lang, tr}
Full text
(as amended; originally 68 T.C. Resmi Gazete 237, 7 April 1924) 1924 in Turkey 1924 in law Law of Turkey