Turkey · Legislation
Legislation and primary sources
Where to find the authoritative text of the law in Turkey, and how to confirm it is still in force.
Sources of law, ranked
- The 1982 Constitution
- Articles 1–3 are unamendable; international human rights treaties prevail over conflicting statutes under Article 90.
- Statutes of the Grand National Assembly
- The primary legislative instrument.
- Presidential decrees
- Introduced in 2018; void where the subject is reserved to statute or already regulated by law.
- The Civil Code 2001, Penal Code 2004, Commercial Code 2011
- The core recodifications.
- Court of Cassation unification-of-precedent decisions
- Binding on lower courts to resolve conflicting case law.
The legislative process
Bills are introduced by members or the executive, examined in committee and passed by the Assembly. The President may return a law once for reconsideration; if the Assembly re-adopts it unchanged the President must promulgate it or refer it to the Constitutional Court. Presidential decrees take effect on publication in the Official Gazette but lapse where the Assembly later legislates on the same subject.
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