Türkiye - Law guide

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This is an overview of an internet research on legislation in Turkey (as of January 2024). This overview aims to serve as a starting point to facilitate the research into legal texts. However, it should not replace independent verification of the different legal texts as to their currency, validity and accuracy. Please also bear in mind that official translations of legal texts only exist in rare cases.

Researching Laws

The state-run online portal Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (“Legislative Information System”) provides Turkish versions of laws, presidential decrees, regulations, notifications and administrative procedures that were published in the Official Gazette. The website can be browsed using a search function, but is only available in Turkish. There is a table at the end of many legal documents illustrating the amendments to the respective law, including the date of its entry into force:

Legislationline is an online platform maintained by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), providing access to international and domestic laws:

The German-language portal on Law & Economy in Turkey is a service provided by the law firm Rumpf Rechtsanwälte and Rumpf Consulting. The portal offers a collection of references, links, texts and legal texts relating to the law and economy of Turkey. The information is mostly available in German and English, legal texts are available in Turkish, English and/or German. The areas covered include, for example, the Turkish judicial system, Turkish authorities, constitution and administration, commercial law and criminal law:

The official gazette of the Republic of Turkey is called Resmî Gazete. It publishes new legislation and other official announcements in Turkish:

The Refworld database, operated by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), provides the option to search for English translations of some legislative texts:

Some laws are to be found on Natlex, a portal of the International Labour Organization (ILO):

To access the collection of national laws of Turkey on ecoi.net, please follow this link.

Constitution

The state-run online portal Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi offers a Turkish version of the 1982 Constitution, including the amendments that were adopted by the referendum on 16 April 2017 and published in the Official Gazette on 27 April 2017:

An official English version of the 1982 Constitution with amendments, including those of April 2017, is available at the website of the Turkish National Assembly (in this version the day of the referendum (16 April 2017) is cited as the amendment date):

An unofficial German translation of the 1982 constitution with amendments including those of April 2017 was prepared by Prof. Dr. Christian Rumpf:

  • Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, 7 November 1982, as amended on 16 April 2017, unofficial German translation by Prof. Dr. Christian Rumpf (available at Portal zu Recht & Wirtschaft der Türkei)
    http://tuerkei-recht.de/downloads/verfassung.pdf

Criminal Code

A Turkish version of the Penal Code of 2004 with amendments that came into force in April 2023 is provided by the state-run Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi:

The latest publicly available English version of the 2004 Turkish Penal Code was published by the organization Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) in 2016 and includes amendments enacted in 2016:

An English version of the 2004 Turkish Penal Code was published by the Council of Europe in February 2016 and includes amendments up to March 2015:

Criminal Procedure Code

The Criminal Procedure Code of 2004 with amendments that came into force up to October 2023 can be found on the state-run online portal Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi:

An English translation of the 2004 Turkish Criminal Procedure Code was prepared by Prof. Dr. Feridun Yenisey, Director of the Institute for Global Understanding of Rule of Law at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul in 2009 and published on Legislationline. Neither the document itself nor the metadata reveal which amendments this translation includes:

Citizenship Law

A Turkish version of the 2009 Citizenship Law, including amendments that came into force in December 2019, is available at the state-run Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi:

An unofficial English translation of the Citizenship Law 2009, Law no 5901, including amendments up to April 2018 is available under the following link on Refworld:

A German translation of the Citizenship Law of 2009 is available on the Turkish Law & Economy Portal (see above). The document does not indicate which amendments are included in this translation:

A German paper on Turkish citizenship law as of January 2022 is also provided by Rumpf Rechtsanwälte:

Law on Fight Against Terrorism

The Law on Fight Against Terrorism of 1991 in Turkish, including amendments that came into force until April 2023, is available at the state-run Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi:

An unofficial English translation of the Anti-Terror Law as amended in 2010 is available at the database Legislationline:

Law on Protecting Family and Preventing Violence Against Women

The Law on Protecting Family and Preventing Violence Against Women of 2012 is available at the state-run Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi:

  • Ailenin korunması ve kadına karşı şiddetin önlenmesine dair kanun [Law on Protecting Family and Preventing Violence Against Women], Law no 6284, 20 March 2012 (available at Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi)

https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=6284&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5

The Law on Protecting Family and Preventing Violence Against Women of 2012 translated into English was published in September 2021 by the Council of Europe and is available at:

(Sources accessed 18 January 2024)

Cite as:

ACCORD - Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation: ecoi.net Turkey Law Guide, January 2024
https://www.ecoi.net/en/countries/turkey/law-guide/

  • Austrian Red Cross
  • Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD)

ecoi.net is run by the Austrian Red Cross (department ACCORD) in cooperation with Informationsverbund Asyl & Migration. ecoi.net is funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Austrian Ministry of the Interior and Caritas Austria. ecoi.net is supported by ECRE & UNHCR.