Turkish Constitutional Court rejects CHP’s appeal to annul decree laws

ANKARA

The Constitutional Court has rejected the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)’s appeal for the annulment of decree laws issued by the government since the declaration of a state of emergency after the failed July 15 coup attempt.

The court rejected the appeal on the grounds of non-competence.

“This verdict of the Constitutional Court is a legal scandal,” CHP Deputy Group Chair Levent Gök told reporters on Oct. 12. Gök, who made the appeal to the high court on behalf of his party, criticized the Constitutional Court for ignoring case law it issued in 1990 over decree laws that violated the Turkish Constitution. 

“We have not seen the reasoning of this verdict yet. But what makes a state are its institutions. What makes a court are its case laws in the name of providing judicial security,” Gök said.  

As the main opposition party, the CHP appealed to the Constitutional Court for the annulment of one of eight decree laws issued by the government since the declaration of a state of emergency in the aftermath of the coup attempt, on the grounds that it violated the Turkish Constitution. 

The CHP said the contents of the decree laws stipulated permanent changes, despite the fact that their validity should expire after the removal of the state of emergency. It added that some contents of decree laws had nothing to do with the justification of the state of emergency declaration and targeted political and social groups other than the movement of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, accused of being behind the July 15 coup attempt. 

The government has suspended thousands of civil servants, including high-ranking officers, teachers and academics, and undertaken serious changes in the structure of the army and other state offices through decree laws.