Basic information			Substance of the ruling			Accessibility of the case and further relevant links
Date	Name of the case (or case number)	The body delivering the decision	Keywords, topic	Executive part	Brief summary	Full text	Page at the website of the issuing court	Page in other databases	Unofficial materials, press communications
August 1. 2023.	Decision no. 32266/2023.	Constitutional Court of Turkey	Right to property; right to conduct a business	The Constitutional Court of Turkey annulled the amendment of the Turkish Commercial Code which prohibited for equity companies the distribution of more than 25% of their profit as dividend due to the economic hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.	The Constitutional Court of Turkey annulled an amendment of the Turkish Commercial Code prohibiting the distribution of more than 25% of their 2019 profit for equity companies. The Constitutional Court argued that the prudential considerations in the light of the economic hardships outweighed the right to property in this case. The Constitutional Court also annulled the provision authorizing the Ministry of Commerce to identify the equity companies exempted from the scope of the abrogated measure.	https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2023/08/20230801-6.pdf			https://www.erdem-erdem.av.tr/en/insights/the-constitutional-court-decided-to-annul-the-provision-prohibiting-the-dividend-distribution-during-covid-19
May 4. 2023.	No. E.2023/44.	Constitutional Court of Turkey	Right to equality; freedom of movement; right to a fair trial	The Constitutional Court of Turkey held that the fines imposed during the first vawes of the Covid-19 pandemic without proper legal basis shall be refunded, the provision excluding the refund of unlawful fines shall be abrogated as unconstitutional.	In Turkey, state of emergency has not been officially declared, most public health restrictions have been ordered by ministerial circulars based on the public health legislation, while the implemented regulations were published only at the website of the Ministry of Interior instead of the Official Gazette. When legislative framework of combatting the Covid-19 pandemic entered into force in November 2022. the fines already imposed without proper legal basis have been cancelled, however, the refund of already collected illegal fines was excluded. The Constitutional Court of Turkey examined the constitutionality of the exclusion of refunds and found this provision unconstitutional, because it infringes right to equality.	https://normkararlarbilgibankasi.anayasa.gov.tr/ND/2023/71	https://www.anayasa.gov.tr/tr/haberler/norm-denetimi-basin-duyurulari/covid-19-kapsaminda-tahsil-edilmis-olan-idari-para-cezalarinin-iade-edilmemesini-ongoren-kuralin-esitlik-ilkesine-aykiri-oldugu-gerekcesiyle-iptali/		https://www.newsendip.com/turkey-constitutional-court-opens-the-door-for-refunding-fines-applied-during-anti-covid-19-rules/
January 17. 2023.	No. 2020/34781.	Constitutional Court of Turkey	Freedom of movement; criminal law	The Turkish Constitutional Court set aside the fine imposed on a man based on a presidential circular during the first vawes of the Covid-19 pandemic.	A person was fined in Istanbul due to the violation of curfew rules prescribed by a presidential circular during the first vawes of the Covid-19 pandemic. The person turned to the Constitutional Court, which upheld the claim and set aside the fine. Although the presidential circular referred to the public health legislation, this was not a proper basis to implement additional crimes, the legislation should provide explicitely the basis of criminal sanctions to avoid arbitrary punishments. In this case, the presidential circular extended the circle of statutoryly provided activities subject to criminal sanctions, which was unconstitutional.				https://www.anayasa.gov.tr/en/case-law-summary/; https://www.covid19litigation.org/news/2023/03/turkey-constitutional-court-rules-fines-given-violating-curfew-during-; https://www.duvarenglish.com/top-turkish-court-finds-covid-19-curfew-violation-fine-unlawful-news-61936
May 26. 2022.	Decision No. 2018/6707	Constitutional Court of Turkey	Freedom of expression	The Constitutional Court of Turkey held that a disciplinary punishment imposed on a doctor expressing her views about sugar loading procedures in a TV programme amounted to an unconstitutional violation of freedom of expression.	A doctor expressed her views in a TV programme and criticized the use of sugarloading methods during pregnancies. As a consequence, she was banned from the profession to 15 days as a disciplinary punishment of the Turkish Medical Association for conveying false information causing significant threat to public health. The lower courts rejected the appeal of the doctor, who turned to the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court examined the case in the special post-Covid context and found the disciplinary sanction unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court considered, that the harm caused by the expressed views was not sufficiently demonstrated, while expertise is not required from a professional to communicate from a certain topic. Moreover, the doctor criticized the methods of her colleagues, not the doctors themselves, and she also cited her own books during the expression of her views. As a result, the disseminated informationwas not intentionally falsified, and the threat to public health has not been sufficiently justified, therefore, the disciplinary sanction was annulled.	https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2022/05/20220526-7.pdf			https://www.esin.av.tr/2022/06/09/turkish-constitutional-courts-decision-on-freedom-of-expression-2/
September 14. 2021.	Decision No. 2020/35444.	Constitutional Court of Turkey	Freedom of movement; right to work	The Constitutional Court of Turkey dismissed a claim submitted against the strict lockdown measures imposed on the population over 65 years during the Covid-19 pandemic because the claimant failed to exhaust all available remedies before the submission of his individual complaint.	A 69-age-old journalist turned to the Constitutional Court of Turkey to contest the constitutionality of the strict curfew imposed on the population over 65 years in the country. The claimant held that the measure lacked proper basis on the one hand, and implemented too severe restrictions of several fundamental rights on the other hand. The Constitutional Court held that the claim was inadmissible because the claimant had to turn to the administrative courts at first, the Constitutional Court could be seized with such a request only after the exhaustion of that remedy.				https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42439-022-00064-7
July 14. 2021.	Decision no. 2021/55.	Constitutional Court of Turkey	Rights of prisoners; right to equality; discrimination	The Constitutional Court of Turkey upheld the substantial constitutionality of a law ordering the release of several prisoners during the first vawe of the Covid-19 pandemic but leave out persons sentenced for terrorism from the scope of this benefit.	The Turkish Parliament enacted a law in April 2020. from the advance release of several prisoners to reduce the prison population during the Covid-19 pandemic, however, certain groups including those of committed terrorism have been excluded from the scope of this measure. Oppositional parliamentarians challenged the constitutionality of this act and considered that it amounted to a discriminatory treatment based on political views. The Constitutional Court acknowledged that that the impugned statute made a differentiation between prisoners, however, it also rejected the substantial arguments of the claimants. The Constitutional Court held that the statute served a public interest to prevent terrorist crimes, therefore, the differentiation had clear objective ground. Moreover, the act amended the executive policy of punishments, which belongs to the almost discretionary power of the legislation. As a result, the claim was dismissed.				https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42439-022-00064-7
November 20. 2020.		Constitutional Court	Rights of prisoners	The Constitutional Court of Turkey in an interim decision held that the prison conditions in Turkey did not amount to a threat on the life and health of detained persons, therefore, a release request of two detained journals were dismissed.	The Constitutional Court of Turkey heard a challenge about the unlawful detention of two journalists reporting from the torture of prisoners by the soldiers. As part of their submission, the claimants also argued that the prison conditions in Turkey mean a serious threat to the life and health of detained persons during the Covid-19 pandemic, so they requested their release. It was argued that the unsanitary prison conditions and the lack of accessible public health services as well as the overcrowded prison facilities result in serious risk factors. The Constitutional Court dismissed the claim in an interim decision and considered that no convincing evidence was shown that the prison conditions were threatening in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic.				https://www.mlsaturkey.com/en/constitutional-court-claims-the-pandemic-is-not-a-threat-in-prisons/
July 17. 2020.	No. 2020/41.	Constitutional Court of Turkey	Amnesty; criminal law; Covid and parliaments	The Constitutional Court of Turkey upheld the formal constitutionality of a law ordering the release of several prisoners during the first vawe of the Covid-19 pandemic but leave out persons sentenced for terrorism from the scope of this benefit.	The Turkish Parliament enacted a law in April 2020. from the early release of several prisoners to reduce the overcrowded prison surrounding during the first vawe of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, certain crimes were left out from the scope of this benefit such as the most serious crimes as well as terrorism and crimes committed against the constitutional order. Parliamentarians from an oppositional parliamentary group challenged the validity of this statute on formal grounds and argued that it shall have been adopted as an amnesty rule rather than a statute on the execution policy of penalties, therefore, three-fifth majority would have been necessary to its enactment so the governmental coalition could not pass the bill without oppositional support. The Constitutional Court of Turkey argued that the impugned law dealt with the execution of penalties rather than their scope, therefore, the law amended just the execution policy which might be amended also by simple parliamentary majority.				https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42439-022-00064-7
May 11. 2020.			Rights of prisoners	The Constitutional Court of Turkey dismissed a request of an academic to be released from prison due to his poor health conditions and the potential impact of Covid-19 on his health. When the judgment has been published, the academic has already died.	An academic scholar took part in the coup against Erdogan in 2016. was sentenced to a long inprisonment, and during the Covid-19 pandemic he was supposed to be threatened by the virus in his prison. He turned to the Constitutional Court and requested his release due to his poor health conditions and the potential impact of Covid-19 on his health. He already died in the prison when the Constitutional Court dismissed his claim by alleging that the prison conditions were appropriate in Turkey despite the extraordinary challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.				https://stockholmcf.org/turkeys-constitutional-court-denied-release-request-of-sick-academic-who-died-of-covid-19-in-prison/