TÜRKIYE Law and Practice Contributed by: Faruk Aktay and Ayşe Müge Aktay, Aktay Law Firm
Human Rights must be made within six months of the Constitutional Court’s decision. 10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments In the Turkish legal system, in order for a deci- sion to be appealed, the court of first instance must first make a decision and the decision must be appealed. An appeal must be filed within two weeks from the date of notification of the deci- sion of the court of first instance. The appeal application is examined by the regional Court of Appeal. Decisions of the regional Court of Appeal can themselves be appealed. As of 2024, to be appealed, there must be a case with a material value exceeding TRY224,000 and the Court of Appeal must have made a mistake in applying the law. The parties to the case, the public prosecutor and, if one of the parties to the case is a minor, their legal representative may appeal. If a party misses the deadline without a justified reason, their right of appeal is terminated. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal In order to file an appeal, the decision of the court of first instance must be appealed within two weeks and the appeal must be filed within two weeks from the date of notification of the appeal decision. The appellate review is carried out by the Court of Cassation. For the appeal application, an appeal petition must be prepared first of all. The prepared petition is submitted to the court of first instance who then sends it to the relevant higher court (the Supreme Court) for appellate review. It should be stated which aspects of the decision subject to appeal are contrary to the law. In addi- tion, the necessary fees and court costs must
be paid when filing an appeal. If the deadline is unjustly missed, the right of appeal is forfeited. If the appeal period is missed for a justified rea- son, a request for reinstatement can be made. The Court of Cassation can make three types of decisions as a result of the appeal review. These are as follows. • Confirmation: if the Court of Cassation finds the decision in accordance with the law, it upholds it and the decision becomes final. • Reversal: if the Court of Cassation finds that the decision is contrary to the law, it reverses the decision and sends it back to the relevant court for re-examination. • Correction: some minor legal errors may be corrected by the Court of Cassation and the decision may be upheld. 10.4 Issues Considered by the Appeal Court at an Appeal Appeal processes are carried out within the scope of the CPC and the CCP. While manag- ing these processes, the appeal court can exam- ine whether there are legal mistakes or material errors in the decisions made by the court of first instance, and the appeal court can examine the existing evidence in terms of the appreciation and evaluation of evidence, but it does not have the authority to collect new evidence. The appeals court also examines the procedural rules during the trial. During the appeal process, a new hearing is usually not held. The appeals court examines the existing file and documents and may request the parties be heard according to the circumstances. As a rule, it is not possible for the appellant to raise a new issue other than those examined in the court of first instance. It can only examine the claims and defences put forward in the court of first instance. If there are
1421 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook