Constitutional Court and ECtHR Applications

An individual application (bireysel başvuru) to the Constitutional Court (AYM) and an application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are extraordinary remedies that become available once the ordinary legal remedies have been exhausted. Neither is a higher court of appeal; the merits of the case are not reheard, and the only question examined is whether a fundamental right has been violated.

Below you will find the conditions and time limits for the two remedies, the authorities to which applications are made, and answers to frequently asked questions.

How is an individual application made to the Constitutional Court?

• Scope. The application is made alleging that one of the fundamental rights and freedoms safeguarded by the Constitution and set out in the European Convention on Human Rights and its additional protocols has been violated by a public authority.
• Exhaustion of domestic remedies. All ordinary legal remedies must have been exhausted before the application; applications made before the appeal (istinaf) or appeal on points of law (temyiz) stage has been concluded are declared inadmissible.
• Time limit. The application is made within thirty days of service of the final decision. If the time limit was missed for a justified excuse, an application may be made within fifteen days of the date on which the excuse ceased to exist, with the excuse being documented.
• Form. The application is made by completing the form specified by the Constitutional Court. It must be explained concretely in respect of which right and how the violation occurred, and the underlying decisions and documents must be attached.
• Admissibility. The time limit, the exhaustion of domestic remedies, jurisdiction as to subject matter and as to persons, and whether the application is manifestly ill-founded are examined. Applications that do not pass this stage are not assessed on the merits.

What are the most common mistakes in individual applications?

A significant proportion of individual applications are declared inadmissible for procedural reasons, without the merits being examined. The following points should be checked separately before applying:

• Start of the time limit. If the final decision was served via UYAP or e-Tebligat, service is deemed to have been effected at the end of the fifth day following the date on which the notification reached the electronic address. The difference between the date on which the decision became visible on UYAP and the date of service is decisive in calculating the thirty-day time limit.
• Raising the complaint beforehand. The Constitutional Court requires that the alleged violation should first have been raised before the lower courts. Failure to include the allegation of a violation of a fundamental right in the appeal and appeal on points of law petitions may lead to the application being declared inadmissible.
• Form and annexes. The application is made using the official form; the explanatory sections are subject to page limits. The first-instance, appeal and appeal on points of law decisions, the petitions for legal remedies and the document evidencing service must be attached. If a deficiency is identified, fifteen days are given for it to be remedied.
• Fee and power of attorney. The application fee must be paid and, for applications made through a lawyer, the power of attorney must be attached.

For details of calculating the time limit, see our article Constitutional Court individual application: the thirty-day time limit and the UYAP trap (in Turkish).

How is an application made to the European Court of Human Rights?

• Precondition. As far as Turkey is concerned, an individual application to the Constitutional Court is, as a rule, an effective domestic remedy that must be exhausted; this remedy must have been exhausted before going to Strasbourg. For complaints concerning the right to a trial within a reasonable time, however, an application to the Compensation Commission (Tazminat Komisyonu) within the Ministry of Justice is provided for as a separate domestic remedy.
• Time limit. The application is made within four months of the date on which the final domestic decision was given.
• Form. The application is made by completing the Court's official application form and sending it by post together with the supporting documents; an incompletely filled-in form results in the application not being registered.
• Admissibility. The criteria examined are the time limit, the exhaustion of domestic remedies, victim status, having suffered a significant disadvantage and whether the application is manifestly ill-founded.
• Outcome. If a violation is found, just satisfaction may be awarded; the execution of judgments is supervised by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

Can interim measures be requested in urgent cases?

Under both remedies, interim measures may be requested where waiting for the outcome of the application would cause irreparable harm.

• Constitutional Court. Where there is a serious danger to the applicant's life or to their physical or mental integrity, the Court may, of its own motion or upon request, order the measures it considers necessary. Requests for interim measures most often arise in files such as deportation cases and detainees with health problems.
• European Court of Human Rights. Under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, the Court may indicate interim measures in exceptional cases where there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm.

In requests for interim measures, showing the danger with concrete documents is decisive for the request to be granted. For deportation files, see our Immigration and Citizenship Law page.

What happens after a violation judgment?

A violation judgment does not automatically change the applicant's situation; a separate request for retrial must be made in order to eliminate the consequences of the decision.

• Constitutional Court judgments. If the violation arises from a court decision, the file is sent to the relevant court for a retrial in order to eliminate the violation and its consequences (art. 50 of Law No. 6216).
• European Court of Human Rights judgments. A final violation judgment of the ECtHR is a ground for the reopening of proceedings in criminal and civil cases (art. 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK), art. 375 of the Code of Civil Procedure (HMK)). The request for retrial must be made within the time limit laid down by law.
• Compensation. Both courts may award compensation for the damage suffered as a result of the violation.

For details, see our article Enforcement of a Constitutional Court violation judgment and retrial (in Turkish).

Complaints concerning trial within a reasonable time: the Compensation Commission

For complaints such as the failure to conclude proceedings within a reasonable time and the late or incomplete enforcement of court decisions, a Compensation Commission was established within the Ministry of Justice by Law No. 6384. For these complaints, an application must be made to the Commission before applying to the Constitutional Court; objections against the Commission's decisions may be made to the Ankara Regional Administrative Court within fifteen days of service (Law No. 6384).

What work do we carry out?

• Preparing the individual application form and making the application within the time limit
• Substantiating the alleged violation by matching it with the provisions of the Constitution and the Convention
• Assessing the file with regard to the admissibility conditions before the application
• Preparing and submitting requests for interim measures
• Preparing the European Court of Human Rights application form and its annexes and lodging the application
• Submitting observations in reply to the Government's observations and claims for just satisfaction
• Handling friendly settlement and unilateral declaration procedures
• Following up requests for retrial after a violation judgment

Types of applications we handle

• Right to a fair trial: trial within a reasonable time, the right to a reasoned decision, equality of arms, unlawfully obtained evidence
• Right to liberty and security: lawfulness of detention, unreasonable length of detention, police custody procedures
• Freedom of expression and of the press: content removal and access blocking orders, disciplinary and criminal sanctions
• Respect for private and family life: violations relating to personal data, custody and contact disputes
• Right to property: de facto expropriation without compensation, zoning-related restrictions, non-payment of debts established by final judgment
• Right to an effective remedy: absence of an effective domestic remedy to examine the alleged violation

Where are applications made in respect of decisions given in Istanbul, Kocaeli and Sakarya?

These two remedies are not a review by a higher court; the merits of the case are not reheard. For this reason, the process relies on showing concretely which decision and which act gave rise to the violation, and the application is built around this.

• Individual applications to the Constitutional Court, either directly or through the courts or diplomatic missions abroad
• The same procedure for final decisions given at the Istanbul Anatolian Courthouse, the Istanbul Courthouse and the Kocaeli, Gebze and Sakarya courthouses; the application can also be made through any court at these courthouses
• Decisions of the Istanbul and Sakarya regional courts of appeal at the appeal (istinaf) stage and, in administrative jurisdiction, of the Istanbul and Bursa regional administrative courts
• European Court of Human Rights applications to the Court in Strasbourg by post
• Requests for retrial after a violation judgment to the first-instance court that gave the decision

For allegations of violations arising from criminal proceedings, you may also wish to look at our Criminal Law page, and for content removal and access blocking orders, our IT and Internet Law page.

Related practice areas

• Criminal Law: criminal proceedings that may give rise to an individual application
• Immigration and Citizenship Law: deportation and administrative detention
• IT and Internet Law: access-blocking and content-removal decisions

For an assessment regarding an individual application or an ECtHR application concerning a decision given by the courts on Istanbul's Anatolian side, in Kocaeli or in Sakarya, you can use our contact page or make an appointment at our office in Kadıköy. Since the time limits for applications are short, it is important that you also tell us the date on which the final decision was served.

The information on this page is general in nature and does not replace a legal opinion on a specific dispute.