Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah visiting the Constitutional Court of Türkiye in Ankara, Monday (9/4/2023). Photo by MKRI.

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ANKARA (MKRI) — The delegation of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) led by Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah made an official visit to the Constitutional Court of Türkiye (Anayasa Mahkemesi) for a judicial dialog on Monday, September 4, 2023. Justice Guntur received a warm welcome from the Vice President of the Court Kadir Özkaya as well as the secretary-general, chief registrar, and other officials in Ankara. He was then taken to tour the Court’s courtrooms and introduced to the history of the Constitutional Court and the Constitution of Türkiye.

The visit was to fulfill the invitation to a judicial dialog by the Constitutional Court of Türkiye. During the visit, Justice Guntur asked about the implementation of access to court and to justice in the Constitutional Court of Türkiye. “How does the Constitutional Court of Türkiye implement the principle of access to court and to justice, starting from petition registration? What sort of judicial technology does the Court utilize and what are the challenges that the Court face in implementing it?” he asked.

Vice President Özkaya explained that in general, the Constitutional Court of Türkiye builds direct relations with the people through constitutional/individual complaints. “In principle, the Court provides ease for the people. We have not had effective technology to support the judicial process, but we are committed to providing ease of access for the public, for example to access any documents they need on our website. They can file a constitutional/individual complaint through the website. We are also digitizing the judicial process by scanning the dossiers. There is a fifteen-day window to completing any incomplete documents,” he explained.

Individual Complaints

Vice President Özkaya also said that the biggest challenge is the individual complaint. In 2023, the Court has 121 thousand ongoing constitutional/individual complaints. Not all of them are processed. They undergo three stages of sorting process by the chief registrar and senior justices. First, fifteen general justices are divided into two groups—seven each with their separate functions—sort the complaints. Each delegate the complaints to two member justices. Each justice decides at least 5 thousand of these complaints annually.

Interestingly, such complaints are not only filed by Turkiye citizens, but also by foreign nationals. “Foreign nationals can also file a constitutional/individual complaint, for example for arbitrary arrest of foreigners by the police at the airport, child custody issues due to divorce, or the nationalization of property,” he explained.

“Although the MKRI currently does not have our authority of constitutional/individual complaints, the Constitutional Court of Türkiye will gladly and unconditionally share our experiences on this authority to the MKRI. We understand fully the challenges that the MKRI and other constitutional courts face,” he added.

After the judicial dialog, the MKRI delegation was welcomed to a lunch with the Court’s justices and officials, followed by a tour to the entire Court building. The visit was concluded with an exchange of souvenirs and a photo session.

Author       : JFA
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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