Constitutional Court of Turkey

The head of Türkiye's top court has concluded his 12-year tenure, bidding farewell to his duty as he handed over the reins to the newly elected president.

Kadir Özkaya has been elected as the new head of the Constitutional Court, succeeding Zühtü Arslan, whose term of office expired.

In the general assembly vote, Özkaya garnered nine out of 15 members' support while his opponent, Yusuf Şevki Hakyemez, received just six votes.

President of the Constitutional Court Zühtü Arslan has been re-elected as the head of Türkiye's highest court by garnering the votes of eight judges out of 15.

Arslan will continue his job as the president for one year as his entire tenure as the member of the Constitutional Court will be terminated in 2024.

The Turkish Constitutional Court ruled on March 14 that the prison administration at the Ferizli L-type prison in the Sakarya province failed to protect the “right to life” for Fatih Kolbasar, an inmate who committed suicide in his cell in 2008. 

Online encyclopedia Wikipedia has made an official appeal to the Turkish Constitutional Court, after a local court in Turkey rejected its initial appeal against the blocking of its content by the Turkish government. The Turkish Information and Communications authorities decided to block access to the site in Turkey based on a law against obscene content threat to national security.

Turkish Constitutional Court has violated the constitution in a decision that paved the way for the release of two jailed Cumhuriyet journalists, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an told journalists during a visit to the Turkish Embassy resident in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

The release of two prominent Turkish journalists, who had been arrested and detained for months over a story on state-owned trucks allegedly carrying weapons to Syria, has been met with praise by the international community.