'Professional ban' penalty returned by the Constitutional Court

Karatay was given a temporary ban from profession for one month. The Turkish Medical Association High Honor Board also approved the punishment. Karatay applied to the Constitutional Court (AYM) when his lawsuits for the annulment of the sentence were rejected.

'NO LEGAL BASIS'

The Constitutional Court pointed out that the acts corresponding to disciplinary penalties should be clearly and predictably regulated in the law. It was emphasized that the law used as the basis for the punishment did not provide sufficient legal guarantee to prevent arbitrary practices. Stating that this regulation was found to be unconstitutional and annulled in 2025, the Constitutional Court decided that the penalty given to Karatay did not meet the requirement of legality. The decision briefly stated as follows:

"Since there is no clear regulation regarding which disciplinary penalty will be applied to which action in Article 39 of Law No. 6023, it has been observed that the legal basis of the disciplinary penalty applied to the applicant does not meet the requirement of certainty. Therefore, it has been concluded that the intervention does not meet the condition of legality. For the reasons explained, it must be decided that the freedom of expression guaranteed in Article 26 of the Constitution has been violated."

The Constitutional Court ruled that the one-month 'disqualification from profession' penalty was a 'violation of freedom of expression'. The Constitutional Court sent a copy of the decision to the Ankara 14th Administrative Court for a retrial to eliminate the consequences of the violation of freedom of expression.

COMPENSATION DECISION AFTER 13 YEARS

Musician Sinan Diler, who was injured in a gunfight between two people at a restaurant in Büyükçekmece, Istanbul, on October 27, 2013, made several complaints to identify the person who shot him. However, during the initial investigation, no information was found regarding the security camera recordings of the incident being examined. The investigation was only launched in 2017. A lawsuit could be filed against the suspect in 2024, and the trial was concluded on May 20, 2026. The defendant was sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison for possible intentional injury. The Constitutional Court (AYM) ruled that the 13-year trial process was a violation of rights. The Constitutional Court unanimously decided to pay Diler 200 thousand TL non-pecuniary damages and 40 thousand 487 lira and 60 kuruş trial expenses. The request for financial compensation was rejected.