Meeting of the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Stanislav Shevchuk with the delegation of the Supreme Court of Jurisdictional Dispute of the Republic of Turkey
30.03.2018
On March 30, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Stanislav Shevchuk held a meeting with the delegation of Supreme Court of Jurisdictional Dispute of the Republic of Turkey.
The Supreme Court for Jurisdictional Dispute of the Republic of Turkey was represented by the President of Supreme Court of Jurisdictional Dispute of the Republic of Turkey, member of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Turkey, Nuri Necipoğlu, members of the Supreme Court of Jurisdictional Dispute of the Republic of Turkey, Alaittin Ali Öğüş, Süleyman Hilmi Aydin, Mehmet Aksu, Şükrü Bozer, Judge, General Secretary of the Supreme Court of Jurisdictional Dispute of the Republic of Turkey, Mevlüt Dönertaş, Second Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey to Ukraine Mehmet Aktaş.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Oleksandr Tupytskyi, Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Viktor Horodovenko, Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Kniazev, Judge of the Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court Liliia Katerenchuk.
The purpose of the visit was to familiarise with the activities of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and to discuss possible areas of cooperation between the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, the Supreme Court of Jurisdictional Dispute of the Republic of Turkey and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Turkey.
The Chairman of the Constitutional Court Stanislav Shevchuk welcomed the Turkish guests and emphasised that the cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey is constantly developing. He mentioned the powers of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and noted that in 2016, amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in the area of justice were introduced, and in July 2017 the Law of Ukraine "On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine" was adopted, taking into account constitutional changes. Mr. Shevchuk also stressed that the most important novel of this Law is the introduction of the constitutional complaint institute. "The constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens envisaged in the Basic Law must be protected by the Court," he said. The speaker emphasised that from now on a person may directly apply to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine if he/she deems that his/her constitutional rights were violated by law.
Mr. Shevchuk highlighted that 589 constitutional complaints had already been submitted to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, of which 132 complaints were distributed among judges and were being prepared for consideration at the sessions of the panels. "Other complaints do not meet the requirements of the Law by form," added the Chairman.
Stanislav Shevchuk informed the guests that at the Constitutional Court measures related to the implementation of the Law of Ukraine "On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine" are being implemented, in particular, the Rules of Procedure of the Court were adopted, senates, boards were formed, and their personal composition was approved. "This allows us to proceed directly to the consideration of constitutional complaints from citizens," the speaker added.
President of Supreme Court of Jurisdictional Dispute of the Republic of Turkey, member of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Turkey, Nuri Necipoğlu, told about the powers of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Turkey. He noted that in 2010 a referendum was held and the Parliament required the Constitutional Court to accept constitutional complaints. "We understood that we face a difficult issue and a lot of work awaits us," said the speaker. For several years we had studied the international experience and the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights against Turkey, speaker highlighted.
Nuri Necipoğlu stressed that today Turkish citizens can file complaints to the Constitutional Court regarding the violation of their rights and freedoms. He added that one of the conditions for submitting a constitutional complaint remains the application of all national means of protection of citizens. "Today we have 30,000 constitutional complaints that are awaiting consideration," the speaker mentioned.
Mr. Necipoğlu also described the structure of the Constitutional Court of Turkey and the procedure for its decision-making. He noted that final decisions on constitutional complaints were adopted by the General Council, which consists of all judges.
The parties thanked each other for an informative meeting and expressed their hope for further fruitful cooperation.
