Executive Decree Authority in Turkey Before the Constitutional Amendments of 2017: In Light of the Turkish Constitutional Court’s Retreat

Year 2018, Issue: 67, 17 - 30, 26.11.2019

Volkan Aslan

https://doi.org/10.26650/annales.2018.67.0002

Abstract

Since the incorporation of decree powers into the Turkish constitutional system in 1971, the Constitutional Court (the Court) had adopted a disposition which has tended to construe decree powers in a narrow margin. In this context, the Court looked for additional conditions besides the conditions set in the constitution for the empowerment of executive with decree powers: the tripartite test which required that the empowerment should be urgent, necessary and important. The Court acted in a similar way for emergency decrees by examining them - although the supervision of emergency decrees is prohibited in the constitution. Thanks to this attitude, decree powers both in ordinary times and emergencies were restricted and used with aims solely seen necessary to abolish the reasons which caused the usage of decrees. However, the Court changed its case law regarding decree powers and opened the way for the possibility of executive influence on law making. For ordinary decrees, it abandoned the practice of looking for “extra” conditions not present in the constitution’s text in 2011. With its judgment in late 2016, the Court gave up controlling emergency decrees as well. This retreat by the Court has greatly influenced the recent inflation of executive dominance in Turkey.

Keywords

Turkish Constitutional Court, Executive decree authority, Judicial review, Emergency decrees, Nondelegation doctrine

Supporting Institution

The author received no grant support for this work.

2017 Anayasa Değişiklikleri Öncesinde Türkiye’de Yürütmenin Kararname Yetkisi: Anayasa Mahkemesi Kararları Işığında

Abstract

Kanun hükmünde kararname çıkarma yetkisinin 1971 yılında anayasal dayanağa kavuşmasından bu yana Anayasa Mahkemesi (Mahkeme) kararname yetkisini oldukça dar yorumlama eğilimine sahip olmuştur. Bu çerçevede Mahkeme, kararname çıkarılması amacıyla yetki yasası çıkarılabilmesi için anayasada öngörülmeyen şartların varlığını aramış ve yetkilendirmenin acil, gerekli ve önemli olması gerektiğine hükmetmiştir. Mahkeme olağanüstü hâl kararnameleri ile ilgili olarak da benzer bir tutum takınmış; anayasada yasak olmasına rağmen bu kararnamelerin denetimini gerçekleştirmiştir. Böylelikle hem olağan hem de olağanüstü dönemlerde kararname yetkisinin bu yetkinin kullanılmasına neden olan sebeplerle ilgili olarak kullanılması sağlanmaya çalışılmıştır. Ancak Mahkeme 2011 ve 2016 yıllarında verdiği kararlarla söz konusu içtihatlarından dönmüştür. 2011 yılında verilen kararla, yetkilendirme için olması gerektiği varsayılan acillik, gereklilik ve önemli olma gibi koşulların artık aranmayacağına hükmedilmiş; 2016 yılında verilen kararla da olağanüstü hâl kararnamelerinin denetiminin yapılamayacağı kararlaştırılmıştır. Mahkeme’nin söz konusu içtihat değişikliklerinin son zamanlarda görülen, yönetimde yürütme organının ön plana çıkması olgusunun temel sebeplerinden birisi olduğu düşünülmektedir.

Keywords

Türk Anayasa Mahkemesi, Yürütmenin kararname yetkisi, Yargısal denetim, Olağanüstü hâl kararnameleri, Yasama yetkisinin devredilmezliği ilkesi

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