Turkey’s Constitutional Court has annulled three controversial measures taken by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) during a state of emergency declared in the aftermath of a failed coup in July 2016.
During the state of emergency, which remained in effect for two years, the AKP government enacted controversial measures under the pretext of an anti-coup fight.
Six of these measures, which are part of Law no. 6749, have been challenged at the Constitutional Court. The court decided to annul three of them that concern the revoking of passports of spouses of individuals who have alleged membership in or links to a terrorist organization; the paying of fees by students who are from universities closed by the government in the aftermath of the coup to the private universities to which they were assigned; and the courts’ refusal to rule for stay in trials conducted based on this law.
The law was challenged by the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 125 deputies in parliament.
The top court ruled that other articles of the law in question were in line with the Constitution concerning recording of the meetings of inmates with their lawyers in prison facilities, a maximum detention period of 30 days during the state of emergency and the lack of criminal liability of those who acted within the boundaries of this law.