A symposium titled "The Effect of the Norm Supervision Decisions of the Turkish Constitutional Court on Individual Application" was held at the Constitutional Court within the scope of the 14th anniversary of the individual application to the Constitutional Court.
Constitutional Court President Kadir Özkaya, Supreme Court President Ömer Kerkez, Constitutional Court Deputy Presidents Basri Bağcı and İrfan Fidan, Constitutional Court members and rapporteurs, members of the higher judiciary, academicians and guests attended the symposium.
Speaking at the opening of the symposium, Constitutional Court President Özkaya said, “With the inclusion of individual application in our legal system, the function of the constitutional judiciary to protect fundamental rights has gained a new and powerful dimension.
Protecting the supremacy of the Constitution is now achieved not only by checking the conformity of a rule of law with the Constitution, but also by protecting the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution against concrete transactions, actions or omissions of the public power.
Thus, constitutional jurisdiction has gained a quality that directly touches people's lives and the concrete disputes they face through individual application.
"In other words, the individual application system has become one of the most important tools that serve the realization of the mission assigned to the constitutional judiciary in our country, as in every country where it is implemented," he said.
'THERE IS NO ORDER OF SUPERIORITY AMONG THE HIGH COURTS'
Stating that individual application is not an ordinary legal remedy, Özkaya said, "The Constitution stipulates that ordinary legal remedies must be exhausted in the individual application; it also clearly stipulates that the issues that must be taken into consideration in the legal remedy cannot be examined within the scope of the individual application.
This constitutional framework not only reveals the secondary nature of individual application, but also determines the boundaries of the separation of duties between the Constitutional Court and the lower and higher courts.
As it is known, our Constitution regulates the duties and powers of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeals and the Council of State separately; It did not envisage a hierarchical relationship or order of superiority among these higher courts.
"Each high court carries out its judicial activities within the framework of the duties and powers given to it by the Constitution and laws," he said.
'756 THOUSAND 726 INDIVIDUAL APPLICATIONS WERE MADE'
Özkaya said, “The success of the individual application cannot be measured only by the decisions made by the Constitutional Court.
The survival of individual application as an effective means of seeking rights depends on fulfilling the requirements of violation decisions and taking measures to prevent similar violations from occurring.
This being the case, the success of the individual application mechanism requires the joint responsibility of all public authorities and especially judicial authorities.
The 14 years of experience we have left behind reveals in numbers the place individual application has reached in our legal system.
A total of 756 thousand 726 individual applications have been made to our court since September 23, 2012, and 648 thousand 410 of them have been concluded.
In other words, approximately 85.7 percent of the applications made to date have been decided.
Our work continues with the same determination in 2026.
"As of today, approximately 40 thousand 769 individual applications have been made to our court and approximately 30 thousand applications have been concluded," he said.
'WE FOLLOW THE FULFILLMENT OF VIOLATION DECISIONS'
Regarding the implementation of violation decisions, Özkaya said, “At this point, I would like to express with pleasure that although it is a relatively new legal institution, the sensitivity shown by our judicial authorities and other public institutions to individual applications is extremely valuable in terms of the effectiveness of the system.
The approach taken by our institutions to fulfill the requirements of the violation decisions given by the Constitutional Court has made a significant contribution to the rooting of individual application in our legal system.
Our court closely monitors whether the violation decisions it issues are fulfilled.
According to our court's statistics, 99.9 percent of the 86 thousand 849 violation decisions given since 2013 have been implemented.
The problems experienced in implementation were limited to a very limited number of concrete cases and some technical issues.
This high application rate is extremely meaningful in terms of the 14 years of experience of individual application.
Because the real impact of individual applications emerges when the violation decisions are implemented.
"Eliminating the violation and its consequences, as well as detecting a violation, is an indispensable element of the effective protection of fundamental rights," he said.
'SIGNIFICANT DISTANCE HAS BEEN MADE IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE'
Özkaya also said that significant progress has been made in analyzing and summarizing individual application forms and court files related to the application with the support of artificial intelligence, and added: "Work has been carried out on converting scanned documents into text in applications made physically; systems have been developed that allow the preparation of summaries that will help our rapporteurs to analyze the application forms, reasoned decisions and other documents in the file.
With the project implemented within the scope of the TÜBİTAK Public Institutions Research and Development Projects Support Program, the development of an artificial intelligence-based decision support system that can be used especially in the admissibility reviews of individual applications has come to an end.
"In this way, it is aimed that our rapporteurs can more quickly identify the legal relationships between numerous applications and decisions, access the relevant jurisprudence more effectively, and support the review processes."
'ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS NOT TO REPLACE THE JUDGE'
Özkaya emphasized that artificial intelligence should not replace judges and said, “Artificial intelligence should not be used to replace judges, but to support the judge and the judicial decision-making process.
Because the trial activity is not just about processing data and establishing similarities between past decisions.
Justice; In addition to legal knowledge and reasoning, it requires understanding people, society and the specific conditions of the concrete event.
For this reason, people are always at the center of our court's understanding of technological transformation.
We do not consider technology by ignoring the human element, but on the contrary, as a tool that supports human decision-making capacity.
If artificial intelligence systems are used, principles such as transparency, explainability, protection of personal data, prevention of discrimination and continuity of human control should not be compromised.
Responsibility for judicial decision ultimately rests with man and should remain so.
Our court's approach in this field is to preserve the guarantees required by judicial independence, impartiality, the right to a fair trial and the principles of the rule of law, while making the most of the opportunities offered by technology.
"In other words, our goal is not to replace the judiciary with technology, but to put it at the service of justice," he said.
'WE HAVE TO BE AN EXAMPLE OF JUSTICE'
Regarding judges and prosecutors, Özkaya said, "Dear judges and prosecutors, our Almighty God commands us to do justice and to be fair.
Our constitution and laws command us to do justice.
So what is justice?
Justice means putting everything in its proper place and giving what is due to those who deserve it.
It is the backbone of the human soul and the mortar of the state.
Throughout history, the highest ideal has always been justice, both in books and teachings based on revelation and in legal systems that are the product of reason.
In a place where justice is weakened, neither the state nor social peace can be mentioned.
Because the only basis of trust, prosperity and inner peace is justice.
Justice is also the conscience of society.
When that conscience is damaged, social ties also dissolve.
For this reason, as judges and prosecutors, we must always treat everyone fairly in every matter.
When we rule between people, we have to rule with justice.
We must always be people who stand for the truth and uphold the truth.
We have to judge with justice.
We have to be fair within the framework of fairness.
We have to be an example of justice.
In this context, let's not forget that all people are equal in the face of justice, regardless of their faith or nationality.
For this reason, we should never stray away from justice by following our own desires.
Also, let's not forget that God and the people love those who are just.
It protects them and elevates their honor.
Dear brothers and sisters of judges and prosecutors, another thing we should not forget is that the robes of judges and prosecutors do not have buttons or pockets.
"We all have to always act with the understanding of what this means," he said.
