During the International Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia on 15-17 September 2021, it was agreed to establish a new platform under the name of “Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (CCJ-OIC)”. It is an outstanding milestone in terms of the initiatives, undertaken by the Turkish Constitutional Court at the Dolmabahçe Palace on 14-16 December 2018, to form an organization to assemble the constitutional/supreme courts of the member states of the OIC.

At the Conference held with the participation of 38 countries in total, Turkey was represented by President of the Constitutional Court Mr. Zühtü Arslan and Chief Rapporteur-Judge Mr. Murat Azaklı. During the plenary meeting, held following the Conference and chaired by President Arslan, the “Bandung Declaration” was unanimously adopted.

It was also decided at the plenary meeting that the initial (inaugural) congress of the Conference, envisaged to be established through the “Istanbul Declaration” adopted in 2018, be held in Istanbul in 2022 and the necessary steps be taken for the completion of the establishment process.

Besides, presentations on the main topic “Human Rights and Constitutionalism” were delivered during the Conference lasting two days. In his speech, President Arslan noted that modern democracy was of pluralist nature and that constitutional courts turned out to be an indispensable part of constitutional democracies. Citing certain judgments delivered by the Turkish Constitutional Court, President Arslan pointed to the significant contribution of the Court, following the adoption of the constitutional complaint mechanism, to the protection and promotion of pluralist and participatory democracy through its rights-based approach. 

At the end of the Conference, the “Bandung Declaration” was read out.

Click for the full text of the speech delivered by President Zühtü Arslan.

Click for the original version of the Bandung Declaration.