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Manual On Good Administration Principles

3.1. Constitutional Developments

Existing, newly-introduced and amended laws in the Constitution of the Republic
of Turkey are, inter alia, as follows:
 First and foremost, Article 2 of the Constitution sets forth that the
Republic of Turkey is governed by rule of law. This concept requires both
the State to lay down rules of law in order to regulate the social order
and the administration to act based on the rule of law in compliance with
these rules of law.

 Article 10 of the Constitution emphasises that State organs and
administrative authorities are obliged to act in compliance with the
principle of equality before the law in all their proceedings and with
the amendments made in 2004 and 2010 therein, which provide that
measures taken to ensure that the equality of men and women exists in
practice shall not be interpreted as contrary to the principle of equality
and measures to be taken for children, the elderly, disabled people,
widows and orphans of martyrs as well as for the invalid and veterans
shall not be considered as violation of the principle of equality, positive
discrimination towards vulnerable groups has been constitutionalised.

 With the amendment made in Article 20 of the Constitution in 2010,
protection of personal life and privacy has been guaranteed under the
Constitution.

 With a sentence added to the last paragraph of Article 90 of the
Constitution in 2004, it has been provided that in the case of a conflict
between international agreements, duly put into effect, concerning
fundamental rights and freedoms and the laws due to differences in
provisions on the same matter, the provisions of international agreements
shall prevail; thus, a democratic administration abiding by the rule of law
and respecting human rights has been guaranteed.

 With the amendment made in Article 40 of the Constitution in 2001, the
obligation for the State to indicate, in its proceedings, the legal remedies
and authorities that the persons concerned should apply and time limits
of the applications has been introduced; in this way, the foundation for
those concerned to seek effective legal remedies has been laid.
 With the amendment made in Article 53 of the Constitution in 2010,
public servants and other public employees have been granted the right
to conclude collective agreements so that they participate in the process
for identification of their personal rights.

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