Transforming the Judiciary into the Proxies of The Rulers: The Hagia Sophia Case

Yıl 2022, Sayı: 71, 51 - 62, 31.12.2022

Barış Bahçeci Serkan Yolcu

https://izlik.org/JA34NN34ZM

Öz

This article examines from a critical perspective the judgment of the Turkish Council of State (Danıştay) in 2020, which invalidated the executive decision of 1934 regarding the designation of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul as a museum. We argue that Council of State did not really perform adjudication of a legal dispute in this case, but rather functioned as a proxy of the executive power for particular reasons. As a matter of fact, we argue the justifications regarding the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the right to property on which the decision was based to be a falsification. Moreover, the developments before and after the decision demonstrate this judgement to be a product of a non-judicial motivation. Lastly, the sequence of political actions regarding the conversion of several other museums into mosques that have been observed in Turkey over the last ten years implies the non-judicial dynamics behind the Council of State’s decision regarding Hagia Sophia. Our analysis reveals the political decisions that would possibly be the subject of criticism by domestic opponents and the international community to have been eliminated by referring the issue to the packed courts in order to avoid all undesired consequences.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Rule of Law , Judicial Independence , Court Packing , Judicial Falsification , Council of State

Kaynakça

• Al, S, “Hagia Sophia in Turkey’s culture wars”, Le Monde Diplomatique, 3 August 2020, https:// mondediplo.com/outsidein/hagia-sophia google scholar
• Aykaç, P, “Contesting the Byzantine Past: Four Hagia Sophias as Ideological Battlegrounds of Architectural Conservation in Turkey”, Heritage & Society 11:2 (2018), 151-178. google scholar
• Bakan Albayrak’tan Ayasofya Paylaşımı, Hürriyet, 10.07.2020 https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/ ekonomi/son-dakika-bakan-albayrak-kazanimlarimizi-koruyarak-bu-surecten-guclenerek-cikacagiz-41561700 (accessed on March 25, 2021). google scholar
• Berkley Forum, Hagia Sophia: From Museum to Mosque, July 17, 2020, https://berkleycenter. georgetown.edu/posts/hagia-sophia-from-museum-to-mosque google scholar
• Biden statement on calling “Turkish President Erdogan to reverse his recent decision to convert the Hagia Sophia to a mosque”, https://joebiden.com/2020/10/06/tensions-between-greece-and-turkey-statement-by-vice-president-joe-biden/ google scholar
• Çalı, B, Durmuş, B, “Judicial Self-Government as Experimental Constitutional Politics: The Case of Turkey”, German Law Journal, 19 (7) (2018): 1671-1706. google scholar
• Çelik, D B, “16 Nisan Anayasa Değişikliği ve Yeni Hâkimler ve Savcılar Kurulu Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme”, Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi 73 (2018) 1057-1094. google scholar
• EU ministers chide Turkey over Hagia Sophia, https://www.dw.com/en/turkey-haghia-sofia-european-union/a-54165074 google scholar
• Eyice, S, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ayasofya-camii--trabzon google scholar
• Goodyear, M P, “Heaven or Earth: The Hagia Sophia Re-Conversion, Turkish and International Law, and the Special Case of Universal Religious Sites”, UCLA Journal of Islamic & Near Eastern Law, Forthcoming Fall 2021, https://ssrn.com/abstract=3680139 google scholar
• Hagia Sophia: UNESCO deeply regrets the decision of the Turkish authorities, https://en.unesco. org/news/unesco-statement-hagia-sophia-istanbul google scholar
• Herrin, J, Opinion, “Converting Hagia Sophia into a Mosque Is an Act of Cultural Cleansing”, Washington Post 15 July 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/15/ converting-hagia-sophia-into-mosque-is-an-act-cultural-cleansing/ google scholar
• Hilafetin İlga ve Hanedan-ı Osmaninin Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Memaliki Haricine Çıkarılmasına Dair Kanun, Law no 431, Enacted on 03.03.1924, Resmi Gazete 06.03.1924/63 google scholar
• Kısakürek, N F, “Ayasofya” Büyük Doğu (1959) 1 google scholar
• Kustra-Rogatka, A, Populist but not Popular: The abortion judgment of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, VerfBlog, 2020/11/03, https://verfassungsblog.de/populist-but-not-popular/, DOI: 10.17176/20201103-235627-0 google scholar
• Landau D, Dixon, R, “Abusive Judicial Review: Courts Against Democracy”, UC Davis Law Review 53 (2020): 1313-1387 google scholar
• Lçtowska, E, A Tragic Constitutional Court Judgment on Abortion, VerfBlog, 2020/11/12, https:// verfassungsblog.de/a-tragic-constitutional-court-judgment-on-abortion/, DOI: 10.17176/20201112200210-0. google scholar
• New York Times, Erdogan Signs Decree Allowing Hagia Sophia to Be Used as a Mosque Again, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/world/europe/hagia-sophia-erdogan.html (accessed on March 25, 2021) google scholar
• Presidential Decision numbered 2729, dated 10 July 2020, Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey, https://beta.shariasource.com/documents/3777 (accessed on March 29, 2021) google scholar
• RG 11.03.2011/27871. google scholar
• RG 16.12.2014/29207. google scholar
• RG 17.07.2018/30481. google scholar
• RG 29.11.2018/30610. google scholar
• The Hagia Sophia Case, 134 Harvard Law Review, p 1285, https://harvardlawreview.org/2021/01/ the-hagia-sophia-case/ google scholar
• http://int.fsm.edu.tr/Uluslararasi-Ofis-About-Us--About-the-University google scholar
• https://eclj.org/eugenics/eu/avortement-eugenique--le-jugement-du-tribunal-constitutionnel-polonais-extraits- google scholar
• https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ayasofya google scholar
• https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/yandas-anapalidan-tuhaf-iddia-ayasofyanin-parasini-ummetin-halife-dedigi-biri-odedi-1750925 google scholar
• https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20201120IPR92132/polish-de-facto-ban-on-abortion-puts-women-s-lives-at-risk-says-parliament google scholar
• https://www.vakifbank.com.tr/ortaklik-yapisi.aspx?pageID=299 google scholar
• Judgements google scholar
• 10th Chamber of the Council of State (Danıştay), Matter no: 2005/127, Decision no: 2008/1858, 31 March 2008. google scholar
• 10th Chamber of the Council of State (Danıştay), Matter No. 2016/16015, Decision No. 2020/2595, July 2, 2020: https://danistay.gov.tr/assets/pdf/guncelKararlar/10_07_2020_060019.pdf (accessed on March 25, 2021) google scholar
• Case of Samatya Surp Kevork Ermeni Kilisesi, Mektebi ve Mezarliği Vakfi Yönetim Kurulu v. Turkey, App. No. 1480/03 (16 December 2008), http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-90264 google scholar
• Yargıtay 1. Hukuk Dairesi (Court of Cassation, First Chamber), Matter No 1998/6603, Decision No 1998/9265, http://www.muzemedokunma.org/AyasofyaMuzesiHakkinda.html# google scholar
• Yargıtay 1. Hukuk Dairesi E. 2012/5916 K. 2012/8101 T. 27.6.2012 https://lib.kazanci.com.tr/ kho3/ibb/files/1hd-2012-5916.htm google scholar