The Turkish Constitutional Court and Civil Liberties: Question of Ideology and Accountability

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Series Details No.16, June 2008
Publication Date 2008
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The Turkish Constitutional Court’s verdict annulling the Parliament’s amendments to Articles 10 and 42 of the Constitution on 5 June 2008 disregards popular will, legalises arbitrary restrictions on the right to equal access to education, and erodes the separation of powers by permitting itself to act outside of the legal order. The emergence of a new precedent of judicial activism is now the biggest threat to the future of Turkish democracy. Turkey cannot afford an unaccountable judiciary exercising substantial powers of governance through judicialization of politics. The Parliament must reassert its authority and reconfigure the Court’s competences and composition to bring it into line with liberal-democratic principles as part of a comprehensive constitutional reform.

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Related Links
Spiegel Online International, 10.6.08: 'The Constitutional State is in Danger' http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,558631,00.html

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