His Excellency Mr. President,
Esteemed Guests,

I would like to welcome you to the swearing-in ceremony and extend you all my most sincere and respectful greetings.

At the very beginning of my speech, I wish Allah’s mercy upon the workers who lost their lives at the tragic mining accident recently taking place in Bartın. I wish patience to their families and speedy recovery to the wounded.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate newly appointed Justice of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Muhterem İnce, who is going to take office after taking his oath, and wish him success in his new office. I also wish that his new office would bring auspiciousness to himself, his family, the Court, as well as to the country.

As is known, the basic virtue of both the personal and social life is justice. The condition sine qua non for the continued existence of the State, organised form of the society, is justice. For the very reason, justice has been, throughout the history, the central value of all religions and secular ideologies.

Indeed, as indicated in the Torah, the Prophet Moses preaches to his people “Follow justice and justice alone”. According to the New Testament, the Jesus Christ addresses his followers “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly”.¹ Also in the Holy Quran, it is cited “Verily, Allah commands you to make over the trusts to those entitled to them, and that, when you judge between men, you judge with justice.” ²

Undoubtedly, such high extent of significance attached to justice places a heavy burden on judges, who are entrusted with the duty to ensure the proper administration of justice. Therefore, almost all civilisations commonly believe that ruling in an unfair and unjust manner amounts to a gross sin. 

For instance, Saadi Shirazi warned, about eight centuries ago, those who were in charge of ruling and securing justice as follows: “Remove the cotton from your ears and administer justice to your people / And if you fail to do so, there is a day of retribution.” ³

Indeed, these expressions once again remind us that justice is not a matter of discourse but of action, and it should be secured, which should also be ensured in an apparent way.

His Excellency Mr. President,

While embarking on the mission as the justices of the Constitutional Court, we commit ourselves to protect the Constitution as well as fundamental rights and freedoms “free from any influence and concerns”. We thereby remind ourselves, while embarking on the mission, that the prerequisite of securing constitutional justice is the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.

The Constitution that we fundamentally commit to protect and maintain qualifies the independence and impartiality as the indispensable features of the judiciary. Article 9 of the Constitution sets forth that “Judicial power shall be exercised by independent and impartial courts on behalf of the Turkish Nation.” This power entrusted solely to courts and judges cannot be delegated to any other person or body.

As indicated in the Constitutional Court’s judgments, judicial independence is not a privilege granted to judges. “The underlying aim of this constitutional guarantee is to establish public trust and confidence in the proper administration of justice in a manner free from any direct or indirect influence, pressure, inducement and doubt.” ⁴

So indeed, the loss of public trust and confidence in the judiciary is among the gravest danger that a democratic state governed by rule of law may face with. Therefore, the understanding of rule of law requires to abstain from displaying any behaviour and attitude that would vitiate the judicial independence and cast doubt on its impartiality on the part of the society.  

Besides, judicial independence is also a requisite of the separation of powers, among the leading principle forming the constitutional identity. In cases where the judiciary and judges are not independent, the separation of powers cannot be considered to exist, and in cases of lack of the latter, the constitution in force cannot be, then, said to duly safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms.

That is because the main function of constitutions is to prevent the holding and exercise of public power by a single authority and to safeguard fundamental rights and freedoms by way of ensuring the rule of law. In this sense, the great philosopher Spinoza states in Theological-Political Treatise he wrote nearly 350 years ago that the ultimate aim of the State is to render persons free of fear by ensuring security and to maintain freedom.⁵

His Excellency Mr. President,

The Constitutional Court strives for performing in the best manner its duty to protect the Constitution, which is its raison d'être, as well as fundamental rights and freedoms. On the occasion of today's ceremony, I remembered my own swearing-in ceremony, which took place more than 10 years ago. It coincided with the 50^th anniversary of the Constitutional Court. At that time, the individual application mechanism had not been introduced yet, and the government system had not changed as well.

In the last 10 years, the Court has made several reforms as well as experienced a number of challenges. The vesting in the Court of the duty and authority to examine individual applications on one hand, and to review Presidential decrees on the other, has expanded the scope of constitutional jurisdiction, thus bringing about new challenges.

Extraordinary situations such as the coup attempt and the COVID 19 pandemic experienced during this period have rendered the change and transformation process in the field of constitutional jurisdiction even more arduous. For all these reasons, I think it would not be wrong to define this period as the "longest decade" of the Turkish constitutional jurisdiction.

At this point, I would like to express my satisfaction that, despite such extraordinary difficulties, the Court has achieved its paradigmatic transformation to a significant extent and has developed a rich case-law by adopting a rights-based approach both in constitutionality review and individual application.

This jurisprudence developed by the Court with a rights-based approach has, on one hand, ensured the harmonisation of the legal order with the Constitution, and raised the standards by expanding the protection afforded by fundamental rights and freedoms on the other.

The Court has rendered and continues to render important judgments to safeguard all constitutional rights and freedoms including but not limited to right to life, freedom of expression, right to a fair trial and freedom of organisation, especially through the individual application mechanism, the 10^th anniversary of which we have celebrated.

During this period, the Court has always upheld the democratic legal order and endeavoured to protect fundamental rights and freedoms. In doing so, it has neither resorted to judicial activism nor to judicial restraint. The Court has consistently endeavoured to fulfil its duties duly and diligently, without exceeding the limits set by the Constitution and without refraining from exercising the constitutional and legal powers entrusted to it.

In this sense, perhaps the most difficult challenge pertaining to the future of the Court is the preservation and maintenance of the rights-based approach adopted and employed so far. In consideration of the fact that the raison d'être of the constitutional jurisdiction is to ensure the supremacy of the Constitution as well as to protect fundamental rights, it is evident that the maintenance of the rights-based approach is in the interest of our country and nation.

Hereby, let me express my sincere gratitude to our Vice-Presidents, Justices, Rapporteur-Judges and all staff, who have written a kind of success story in the field of constitutional jurisdiction despite great difficulties.

His Excellency Mr. President,

As is known, swearing-in ceremonies remind us that the court is not a property of the judge. Saadi Shirazi says: “The one who enjoys the real happiness owes his fame to his knowledge and justice. He who comes, will go; he who sows, will reap. The thing that survives is a good or bad fame”.[6] Indeed, what remains is a pleasant sound in the dome.

On this occasion, I would like to thank Justice Mr. Hicabi Dursun, who have completed his term of office by leaving a favourable impression behind, for his contributions to the Court and wish him success in his future professional life as well as peace and happiness in his private life.

I would also like to commemorate our retired Justice Mr. Mustafa Yakupoğlu and other members, who lost their lives in the recent period, and I wish a healthy life for those who are alive.

Ending my speech, I would like to extend my gratitude for your participation in our ceremony and extend my wishes of health and prosperity to you all.

¹ Deuteronomy, 16/20; John, 7/24.

² Nisâ, 4/58.

³ Sadî Şirâzî, Bostân ve Gülistân, Prep. O. Koca, (İstanbul: Beyan Yayınları, 2016), p. 246.

⁴ Constitutional Court’s decision, no. E. 2021/8, K. 2021/40, 03 June 2021, § 7.

⁵ Benedict de Spinoza, A Theologico-Political Treatise, A Political Treatise, Trans. R.H. M. Elwes, (NY: Dover Publications, 1951), pp. 258-259.

⁶ Şirâzî, Bostan ve Gülistan, p. 39.