Chapter 18: Turkey

This chapter offers a critical account of how the Turkish (high) courts have approached the complex questions that arise in domestic litigation concerning the relationship between international law and Turkey’s domestic law. The chapter first engages in a theoretical debate and doctrinal exploration on the place of international law in the Turkish domestic legal order. It also provides a brief account of the Turkish constitutional approach to its international obligations, which has been extensively interpreted, implemented and supplemented by the practices of Turkish national legislative and executive organs. Second, and more importantly, it maps the explicit and implicit influence of Turkish constitutional-national principles in Turkish case law vis-à-vis Turkey’s international legal commitments.