Action Plan on Human Rights

Ac t i o n plan on human r i gh t s

Ac t i o n plan on human r i gh t s

This is the title page and table of contents for the Turkish Action Plan on Human Rights, dated March 2021. It outlines nine main objectives ranging from strengthening human rights protection systems to raising public awareness, along with sections on budget, monitoring, and stakeholder engagement.

V. monitoring, reporting and evaluation VI. stakeholder participation and preparation index 128 introduction

The Action Plan aims to strengthen rule of law and democracy by protecting individuals' inherent human rights, physical and moral integrity, honour and dignity equally before law, building on judicial reforms since 2002 including presumption of innocence, personal data protection, expanded legal remedies, reduced pre-trial detention, and new trial procedures, while incorporating European Convention on Human Rights standards and constitutional commitments. States must protect and promote rights and freedoms while prohibiting discrimination in public services and ensuring fair trials within reasonable timeframes, with both rights and freedoms entailing responsibilities including duties not to harm others and the community. The Plan was developed through broad participatory consultation with constitutional and higher court rulings, ombudsman reports, six working groups comprising law deans, bar association leaders, non-governmental organisation representatives, judiciary members and public institution officials, and diverse stakeholder groups including parliament committees, all ministries, civil society, media, business, labour representatives and minority communities, and it organises 11 main principles into 9 aims, 50 goals and 393 measurable, monitorable activities informed by European and United Nations human rights standards, addressing awareness-raising, administrative actions to strengthen institutional protections, and legislative amendments with particular emphasis on training and implementation.

I. main principles

Sets out guiding principles for all state institutions, including protection of human dignity and unalienable rights, equality before law without discrimination, clear legislation, judicial processes respecting presumption of innocence, freedom of contract and enterprise, rule of law, freedom from deprivation of liberty for expression, and access to effective legal remedies.

II. aims

Lists nine overarching aims for the action plan: stronger human rights protection, judicial independence and fair trials, legal clarity and transparency, freedoms of expression and religion, personal liberty and security, physical and moral integrity and privacy, property rights protection, support for vulnerable groups, and raising awareness on human rights.

A stronger system for protection of human rights

The Plan's first aim is to establish a strong, accessible human rights protection system capable of ensuring rule of law stability through harmonising with European Union standards and strengthening national and international institutional structures. The Plan acknowledges that rights protection requires not only legislation but also institutional arrangements with capacity to set limits for practitioners and build public trust. Under the aim of strengthening human rights protection, the Plan establishes specific goals and activities addressing victims' rights, child-appropriate trials, judicial support systems, and social dimensions of criminal law to maintain institutional effectiveness and solidify rule of law.

A stronger system for protection of human rights

Strengthening judicial independence and the right to a fair trial

An independent and impartial judiciary, free from external influence, is fundamental to democracy and rule of law, requiring that legislation, legislative and executive actions, and societal conduct respect judicial independence, that judges and prosecutors not face measures undermining their security due to their judicial acts or decisions, and that Turkey's reforms include abolishing State Security Courts and military justice and reorganising the Council of Judges and Prosecutors along democratic principles with an independent secretariat. Fair trials require reasoned decisions, presumption of innocence, and the right of defence, supported by existing measures such as lawyer assignment for victims in sexual assault and serious crime cases, audio-visual communication systems, and defence in different languages. The plan seeks to introduce citizen-oriented justice services, strengthen the Justice Academy of Turkey's independence, ensure fair decisions within reasonable time, and make procedural amendments to secure the right to trial within a reasonable time.

Strengthening judicial independence and the right to a fair trial

The section requires structural judicial reforms including revising judge appointment systems to prevent disruptions to proceedings, establishing objective performance criteria for promotion and discipline, and strengthening institutional independence; ensuring effective implementation of criminal responsibility and presumption of innocence through training and awareness; improving trial management through time-limits extended to regional courts, jurisdictional dispute resolution, and mandatory judge replacement scheduling; strengthening procedural rights including complete indictment drafting, mandatory defence counsel in administrative questioning, mandatory defence counsel presence during suspect identification, electronic document transfer to the National Judicial Network, expanded lawyer information access, and accommodation of disabled, elderly and bedridden persons through video technology; and expanding access to justice through e-hearings in all civil courts, electronic Constitutional Court applications, revised legal aid and fee structures, 24/7 courthouse practice expansion from Istanbul Airport to other busy airports, and standardised electronic legal aid applications.

Legal foreseeability and transparency

Legal security requires clear, foreseeable, understandable and applicable rules to prevent doubt and arbitrary authority, so individuals know in advance what actions entail legal sanctions and what powers the administration holds; the administration must provide speedy and satisfactory replies to individuals' applications challenging administrative acts without excessive bureaucratic delay or unlawful costs, with response times reduced from 60 to 30 days. This extends beyond judiciary scope to encompass bureaucracy, business, work life, economy and social policies, embedding equal treatment, certainty and respect for acquired rights in law and practice through updated anti-corruption strategies, specialised courts, alternative dispute resolution and expert supervision.

Legal foreseeability and transparency

Protection and promotion of the freedoms of expression, association and religion

Freedom of expression protections have been strengthened through national law reforms in 2012, 2013, and the 2019 First Judicial Package which decriminalized expressions that do not exceed information imparting or serve purposes of criticism, enabled Court of Cassation review of freedom of expression judgments, and restricted access orders to specific content rather than whole websites. The right to assembly and demonstration requires only prior notice rather than permission, with location and route determined through consultation with relevant stakeholders as per the 2014 democratisation package. Protections for religion and conscience have been enhanced by removing restrictions on religious attire in public places, amending the criminal code in 2014 to penalise interference with individuals' ways of life based on their beliefs, and addressing property disputes involving non-Muslim foundations and zoning rules for places of worship through legislative changes from 2002, 2003 and 2008.

Protection and promotion of the freedoms of expression, association and religion

The government will review relevant legislation against international human rights standards, organize trainings for judges, prosecutors and law enforcement, reconsider time-limits for proceedings on press and media offences, eliminate content-specific access restrictions instead of website blocking, establish journalist safety as an overarching principle, review publication bans, provide legal remedies against final rulings on expression-based offences, and ensure workers under the Press Labour Law enjoy full labour rights to safeguard freedom of expression. The government will address barriers to convicts' and detainees' correspondence with lawyers and access to publications through libraries and digital systems; review and strengthen the right to assemble and associate in line with international standards through awareness training for officials; implement leave for employees and students on religious holidays and establish spaces for religious observance; and provide extra contact visits for detainees on their religious holidays. The government will support discrimination and hate crime victims, create educational materials reflecting objectivity and pluralism, establish data collection on hate and discrimination offences with staff training, and raise awareness among media workers about hate speech and discrimination.

Strengthening personal liberty and security

The section strengthens personal liberty and security by restricting detention to exceptional preventative measures, narrowing offence categories for detention, requiring seniority for magistrate judges, introducing a vertical objection procedure against magistrates' decisions, and developing alternative preventive measures such as judicial supervision facilitated by technology. Time spent in home detention counts toward final sentences. The section also addresses compensation for wrongful preventive measures and grievances from arresting outside business hours.

Strengthening personal liberty and security

This section strengthens personal liberty and security by establishing vertical objection procedures against detention and preventive measure orders; requiring seniority qualifications for magistrate judges and narrowing the catalogue of offences for detention; implementing concrete evidence requirements for detention grounds; reviewing restrictions on defence counsel meetings; providing training to judges and prosecutors; and establishing an administrative remedy for speedy compensation from unjust detention. It permits release of individuals arrested outside business hours on warrant if they agree to appear before judicial authorities within reasonable time, ensures 24/7 statement procedures at courthouses, requires text notification of indictments and summons to witnesses or complainants, enables discontinuation of complaint-based proceedings if complainants fail to appear, and prevents arrest for non-appearance until notification is confirmed complete.

Safeguarding the physical and moral integrity and the private life of the individual

The state protects the right to life, individual honor, dignity, physical integrity and moral standing through measures including stricter torture penalties, abolition of statutory limitation periods for torture, independent investigation mechanisms, and institutional inspection bodies. Turkey has enacted Law 6284 (2012) and established specialized interim measure courts to combat violence against women and families, with planned extensions of aggravating circumstances to divorced spouses, criminalization of repeated stalking, and expansion of hospital support units and special investigation bureaus, applying equally to all persons regardless of penitentiary status. The constitution protects privacy under three categories - privacy of private life, inviolability of domicile, and freedom of communication - and a 2010 constitutional amendment established personal data protection as a constitutional right, with Law 6698 on Protection of Personal Data providing safeguards for fundamental rights and freedoms when personal data is processed.

Safeguarding the physical and moral integrity and the private life of the individual

The section requires comprehensive actions to prevent torture and ill-treatment through force use analysis, law enforcement training, custody standards maintenance, forensic facilities expansion, and abolition of statutory limitation for torture-related disciplinary infringements; to ensure effective investigations of rights violations through administrative procedure review, disciplinary procedures, mandatory crime scene recording, forensic expert training in the Istanbul Protocol, and forensic medicine institutes at appeal court locations; to protect individuals from violence, stalking and harassment by extending aggravating circumstances to divorced spouses, establishing stalking as a separate crime, expanding victim support centres and investigation bureaus, ensuring legal representation and victim training for prosecutors and judges, and creating rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators; to enhance detainees' and convicts' contact with family through accessible prison locations, facilities for those with financial difficulties or disabilities, weekend visitation for children, expanded compassionate leave, video calls, psycho-social support, vocational training, and fair prison discipline systems. The section further requires public institutions to prevent damage to life from negligent conduct through environmental safety and construction supervision review, traffic and child mortality reduction measures, standardised military fitness assessments, weapons access denial to at-risk persons, personal data protection law harmonisation with European Union standards, redirection of administrative fine challenges to administrative justice, elimination of criminal record deletion problems, and review of forfeited rights restitution provisions.

A more effective protection of the right to property

The right to property, recognised as fundamental by international and national law, requires state protection and implementation obligations, supported by recent amendments establishing equitable redress through real value compensation, compensation remedies for property restrictions, and Damage Assessment Commissions for speedy and fair reparation for losses from terrorism. The policy plans further legislative amendments addressing expropriation and de facto expropriation problems, enables electronic debt enforcement sales to maximise property values and allows debtors to sell attached property, and introduces a binding pilot case procedure in public administration disputes to ensure uniform outcomes. Contract law is identified as a key tool for protecting material and non-material possessions under constitutionally protected freedom to work and establish enterprises, with planned reforms to prioritise personal rights in criminal seizure and confiscation procedures and ensure uniform and transparent practice in zoning and parcelling activities.

A more effective protection of the right to property

The section commits to reviewing expropriation and enforcement laws, establishing administrative remedies against property interference, prioritizing de facto expropriation cases with swift compensation, and ensuring transparent zoning policies and legal certainty. It requires strengthening procedural safeguards in criminal confiscation proceedings, preventing asset depreciation during seizure, establishing uniform practices on planning contributions and zoning plan supervision, and removing de jure confiscation effects. Additional measures include enabling the administration to follow favourable case-law, providing property owners electronic access to public land record restrictions, determining security deposits fairly, and improving collection procedures for groundless public institution payments.

Protecting vulnerable groups and strengthening social wealth

The Action Plan emphasizes comprehensive protections for children through constitutional and international safeguards, a holistic juvenile justice approach, and humanistic practices including personal handover arrangements, mother-child units, expanded probation, and contact visitation. It extends rights protections to youth through reduced candidacy age to eighteen, elderly persons, persons with disabilities through strengthened social protection and alternative sanctions, and forced migrants through international refugee laws implemented since 2013. The Plan further addresses rights to health, healthy environment, and digital information, including Turkey's participation in climate change conventions and protection of animals in natural habitats through awareness and potential legislation.

Protecting vulnerable groups and strengthening social wealth

High-level administrative and social awareness on human rights

The Plan prioritises sustaining human rights awareness at administrative and societal levels, requiring judicial authorities and public administrators to understand human rights principles when exercising power and legislation to be drafted with a human rights focus with access to case-laws from the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights for judges and prosecutors. The Plan addresses human rights education at all levels from primary to higher education with practical experience alongside theoretical knowledge, including extending law degree programmes to five years with courses on legal methodology and reasoning and raising admission standards, establishing international human rights scholarship opportunities and a legal research institute, and providing the judiciary with technical infrastructure to track developments in human rights law and access to decisions and reports from international bodies like the European Court of Human Rights. Public awareness and understanding of human rights is essential for a functioning democracy and effective social supervision of government commitments to rights.

High-level administrative and social awareness on human rights

A new and civilian constitution

The Plan is premised on the state's principal duty to protect and promote human rights through a new civilian constitution centred on individual freedom with institutional guarantees for judicial independence, arguing that the 1982 Constitution, amended multiple times and marked by the 1980 coup, maintains equivocal freedoms filled with exceptions unsuitable for democracy. Turkey's efforts to draft a new constitution through transparent and participatory approaches since the 2000s reflect the necessity of replacing military-influenced constitutions with a civilian and liberal constitution that unconditionally protects individual physical and moral integrity, honour and dignity, reflects that the state exists for its people without exceptions, and aligns with the Presidential Government System, particularly as Turkey approaches the Republic's centenary having last adopted a civilian constitution in 1924. The Plan represents a milestone prioritising human rights, guaranteeing that all citizens experience security in their fundamental rights and freedoms, and anchoring the system on the foundation of rights and freedoms as the state's commitment to the nation.

IV. budget

Requires responsible institutions to include budgets for the Action Plan's goals and activities in their annual budgets and report total spending in an implementation report. Each institution must allocate the funds appropriated to them in order to achieve the planned goals and activities.

V. monitoring, reporting and evaluation

A Monitoring and Evaluation Board comprising ministry delegates and relevant committees will oversee implementation over a two-year period, coordinated by the Presidency of the Republic. Responsible ministries must submit progress reports every four months to the Ministry of Justice's Department of Human Rights, which will compile annual reports for Board approval. Two independent institutions will review these reports and their findings will go to the Presidency and parliament, with results then disclosed to the public.

VI. stakeholder participation and preparation index a. analyses

Lists thirteen types of analysis to be conducted during preparation, including examination of court rulings, international recommendations and reports concerning Turkey, reviews of other countries' practices, and collection of written opinions from ministries and international organizations.

B. workshops

Identifies five types of workshops to be held during preparation: one with the Constitutional Court and related judicial bodies, and separate workshops with civil society organizations, academics, business and labour representatives, plus working group meetings.

C. meetings

Documents twenty-four stakeholder consultation meetings held between October 2019 and January 2021, including sessions with judicial bodies, government institutions, civil society organizations, business associations, religious communities, the parliament, bar associations, and international organizations.