President of the Constitutional Court Mr. Zühtü Arslan, pointing to the Turkish Constitutional Court as one of the long-standing tribunals with the highest experience, stated “Raison d'être of the constitutional jurisdiction is to protect fundamental rights and freedoms by way of restricting political power. Constitutional courts are the institutions entrusted with the secure of justice and thereby the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms.”

The special session on “The Importance of International Cooperation in Constitutional Jurisdiction”, which was among the events held on the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the Constitutional Court, was organised in İstanbul.

The session moderated by President Arslan was attended by the Vice-Presidents and Justices of the Constitutional Court, as well as the chairmen and justices of regional human rights tribunals from all over the world, the representatives of international institutions, and presidents and justices of constitutional courts/councils of 26 countries.

In his opening speech, President Arslan stressed that the Turkish Constitutional Court was among the long-standing tribunals with the highest experience all around the world and accordingly expressed his gratitude for finding the opportunity to exchange the Court’s accumulation of knowledge and experience with the fellow and sister countries as well as with the representatives of the constitutional courts from all over the world.

Stating that the raison d'être of the constitutional jurisdiction was to protect fundamental rights and freedoms by way of restricting political power, President Arslan also added “Constitutional courts are the institutions entrusted with the secure of justice and thereby the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. With this duty and function incumbent on them, the constitutional courts have become an element sine qua non for the modern democracies and constitutional democracies. That is because the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms is a part and parcel of democracy.”

Indicating that the works undertaken by the representatives of international institutions and chairmen and justices of the constitutional courts attending the meeting were of the same nature, President Arslan noted that the mutual cooperation and the exchange of experience and knowledge were of vital importance and that in this sense, during the special session, the participants would exchange information and ideas for facilitating and improving international cooperation.