Paylaş | 11 July 2024

Mr. İrfan Fidan, Member of the Turkish Constitutional Court, and Mr. Murat İlter Deveci, Rapporteur-Judge of the Turkish Constitutional Court, attended the “XII St. Petersburg International Legal Forum” organised in St. Petersburg, Russia, on 26-28 June 2024.

As part of the programme, “Conference on the Protection of Rights and Constitutional Review” was held. At the conference, which was also attended by the delegation of the Turkish Constitutional Court, the themes “Initiating Constitutional Review with the Aim to Ensure Constitutional Rights and Freedoms” and “Protection of Rights and Freedoms as the Result of Constitutional Review” were discussed.

The conference was followed by an active discussion forum on “International Courts Versus National Courts: Finding a Way Out”. Mr. İrfan Fidan, Member of the Turkish Constitutional Court, delivered a presentation titled “Relations between International and National Courts”. In his address, Mr. İrfan Fidan explained the precedents set by the Turkish Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights in the context of individual application mechanism. Mr. İrfan Fidan emphasised that the judicial power, which is one of the fundamental functions of national sovereignty along with the legislative and executive powers, is both national and international in scope and inalienable. Having noted that the independence of the national judiciary does not preclude it from becoming a party to international conventions, Mr. İrfan Fidan further expressed that this relationship should not be interpreted in a manner that would compromise the independence and essential characteristics of the national judiciary.

The programme concluded with an exchange of views on constitutional review.