Title: Long lasting state of emergency in Turkey and the recent constitutional amendments under its shade

Authors: Peri Uran Murphy; Pasquale Pasquino

Addresses: World Council of Peoples for the United Nations (WCPUN), 301 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, New York 10017, USA ' Politics Department, New York University, 19 West Fourth Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10012-1119, USA

Abstract: On July 21, 2016, right after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, a three-month state of emergency was declared throughout the entire country by the Turkish government. The state of emergency was prolonged seven times until July 18, 2018, when it was eventually lifted. Between 2016 and 2018, Turkey was essentially under a continuous and permanent state of emergency¹ and during this period, more than 30 emergency decree-laws were adopted which granted considerable powers to the executive and administrative authorities. These emergency decree-laws were criticised because of their wide regulatory areas and permanent provisions. Another significant development during the state of emergency was the approval of constitutional amendments by a referendum on April 16, 2017. The essence of the amendments was the transition to a new form of government which was later named as 'Turkish type presidential system'. This system has sparked major criticisms. In the aftermath of the referendum, 2018 Turkish presidential election and parliamentary election took place on the same day under the state of emergency.

Keywords: state of emergency; emergency decree laws; judicial review; supremacy of constitution; Turkish Constitutional Court; Turkish constitutional amendments; legitimacy issue; Turkey.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRCS.2023.129998

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 2023 Vol.10 No.2, pp.99 - 113

Received: 26 Jan 2022
Accepted: 09 Feb 2022
Published online: 04 Apr 2023 *

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