President of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Kadir Özkaya, attended the official opening ceremony of the 2026 Judicial Year of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), held in Strasbourg, France on 30 January 2026.

The Turkish delegation, attending the official ceremony upon a formal invitation from the President of the ECHR Mr. Mattias Guyomar, included President of the Constitutional Court Mr. Kadir Özkaya, President of the Court of Cassation Mr. Ömer Kerkez, Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation Mr. Muhsin Şentürk, Chief Public Prosecutor of the Council of State Mr. Cevdet Erkan, Head of the 8^th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation Mr. Fahri Akçin, Members of the Council of State Ms. Aysel Demirel and Mr. Kenan Balan, Secretary General of the Constitutional Court Mr. Murat Azaklı, and Chief Rapporteur-Judges of the Constitutional Court Mr. Abdullah Çelik and Mr. Akif Yıldırım.

As part of the event, President Özkaya met with President of the ECHR, Mr. Mattias Guyomar. President Özkaya congratulated Mr. Guyomar on his speech at the ceremony and extended his best wishes for the new judicial year.

President Özkaya also held discussions on the upcoming judicial year with Ms. Saadet Yüksel, ECHR Judge in respect of Türkiye.

During the interview conducted as a part of the event, President Özkaya expressed his gratitude to ECHR President Mr. Guyomar for the kind invitation and well-organised programme. Noting that the Turkish Constitutional Court closely monitors the ECHR case-law, Mr. Özkaya emphasised the essential role of the ECHR in promoting the rule of law and human rights standards among countries, thereby contributing to stability.

President Özkaya also expressed his appreciation to Turkish Judge Ms. Saadet Yüksel and all other ECHR Judges for their valuable contributions to fostering dialogue and cooperation between the ECHR and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Türkiye.

The opening ceremony was followed by the Judicial Seminar 2026 on the theme “Defending Media Pluralism and the Democratic Process in Challenging Times”. The participants exchanged views on varied topics, including media pluralism, the right of access to information, the freedom of information, the integrity of the democratic process, the role of judicial oversight, and the free expression of the people’s will as a prerequisite for the protection of a democratic state order.

As part of his visit to Strasbourg, President Özkaya met with Ambassador Ms. Nurdan Bayraktar Golder, Türkiye’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe and also attended a formal reception hosted by the Permanent Representation of the United Kingdom to the Council of Europe.