Shop a Review

Politics

According to the 1982 constitution, Turkey is a parliamentary republic. It is committed to the separation of powers as well as fundamental rights and obligations. In a referendum in 2017, however, according to the electoral commission, a narrow majority of voters voted for a far-reaching constitutional amendment that transformed the system of parliamentary democracy into a presidential system. Since the 2018 election, the President has been head of state and head of government at the same time and has extensive powers. He is directly elected for a term of five years (re-election possible once). If the parliament decides on new elections in the second legislative period of the president, the incumbent may run for office again, resulting in a term of office of up to 14 years. According to equzhou, the office of Prime Minister is no longer applicable. The president, who is allowed to belong to a party, is the commander-in-chief of the military, appoints a number of vice-presidents to be determined by him, the members of the cabinet and high-ranking officials, all of whom he can dismiss at any time. He can issue decrees with the force of law and introduce the draft budget to parliament. The parliament with a five-year legislative period has 600 instead of the previous 550 members (active and passive voting rights from the age of 18) and is elected in the same election as the president. The latter can dissolve it and call new elections without certain conditions, but at the same time makes himself available for election. Control of the executive by parliament is hardly possible any more. but at the same time puts himself up for election. Control of the executive by parliament is hardly possible any more. but at the same time puts himself up for election. Control of the executive by parliament is hardly possible any more.

Administration

Turkey is strongly centralized. There are 81 provinces (İl), 30 of which are metropolitan regions (Büyükşehir Belediyesi), which are divided into districts (İlçe) and further into municipalities (Bucak). Each province has an elected provincial assembly. The prefects (Vali, also: Gouverneur) appointed by the interior minister at the top act as representatives of the central government as well as the respective provinces as local authorities. At the head of the district administration is the District Administrator (Kaymakam), also appointed by the Minister of the Interior. Mayors (Belediye) in the parishes and village chiefs (Muhtar) in the villages are elected by the people.

Administrative division of Turkey

Law

The judiciary is overseen by the Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors. The council consists of 13 members (6 appointed by the President, 7 elected by Parliament).

The structure of the ordinary jurisdiction has been in three stages since 2005. Courts of first instance are peace and district courts for civil and criminal matters as well as special courts such as B. Commercial, consumer, labor and family courts. Military jurisdiction was repealed with the constitutional reform that came into force in 2018. The newly established court of second instance will act as the court of appeal for all ordinary courts of first instance. The third and final instance is the Court of Cassation (Yargitay) in Ankara. The factual jurisdiction of the courts is in principle determined according to the value of the subject of the dispute. In each judicial district consisting of several provinces there is also an administrative and a tax court,

The legal system is characterized by two large reception processes. The first served to underpin the social and structural change from the Ottoman Empire to a western-oriented parliamentary republic whose main characteristics were secularismand the rule of law are. This process was initiated with the first constitution of the Turkish Republic (1924) and the adoption of the Swiss Civil Code, the first two books of the Swiss Code of Obligations, the Swiss Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act, the Civil Procedure Code of the Canton of Neuchâtel, the Italian Criminal Code and the German Code of Criminal Procedure in the years 1926 to 1929. A commercial code composed of elements from French, Belgian, Italian and German law came into force in 1926 and a maritime trade code composed largely of German law in 1929 (both merged and revised in the new commercial code of 1956).

The second reception process was caused by Turkey’s rapprochement with the EU. With the establishment of the Customs Union in 1996, Turkey had to revise or enact new laws, particularly in the area of ​​commercial law. But the major codes have also all been revised: the Civil Code (2002), the Code of Civil Procedure (2004), the Code of Criminal Procedure (2005) and the Criminal Code (2005). Most of the Commercial Code and the Code of Obligations were also revised. The death penalty has been abolished since 2006.