The legal team of Yalçın&Toygar Law Firm consists of an excellent group of Turkish, American, Arab and Russian lawyers. All lawyers are fluent in English. In addition, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Russian are represented. YT Law Office lawyers provide legal advice to local and international financial companies. YT Law Office`s real estate lawyers provide legal services in almost every part of the. Among these laws, the LPH dates back to 1930. This is not a law that has had much practical application over the past ninety years and can be classified as “rusty” to counter a pandemic in 2020. In particular, the law allows for measures concerning persons “infected, suspected of being infected or classified as contagious” rather than measures that affect the population as a whole. This has raised concerns about whether this legislation can form the legal basis for large-scale measures restricting constitutional rights by treating everyone as “suspiciously infected” to combat the pandemic. Our wide range of legal services also includes intellectual property litigation. We. However, some people have successfully challenged the hefty fines imposed on them by the police for violating COVID-19 rules, arguing that these fines lacked a clear legal basis.
For example, in one case, the Turkish Court of Cassation imposed a police fine on a person for allegedly violating COVID-19 rules by not wearing a mask, on the grounds that they do not have this power under the provisions of LPH and LPA in conjunction with the Turkish Administrative Offences Law. Citing this decision, a Turkish justice of the peace later invalidated another fine imposed by the police on a person for violating the curfew. However, these decisions do not change the system of fines, but simply order the executive to refer to other legal provisions when imposing fines. YALÇIN & TOYGAR Law Firm is a leading international law firm based in Istanbul, Turkey, dedicated to providing outstanding legal and advisory services, including international business law, corporate law, foreign investment law, maritime law, international arbitration, mergers and acquisitions, international construction law, insolvency law, transport law, energy law, banking and financial law and copyright. There has been no flood of legal challenges in Turkish courts regarding the far-reaching measures taken in the first year to combat the pandemic. An individual petition (Senih Özay) filed with the Turkish Constitutional Court (TCC) against the legal basis of the pandemic-related curfew for citizens over 65 years of age was ruled inadmissible in June 2020. In its decision, the ICC stated that curfews were inherently an administrative measure and that the complainant should appeal to the administrative courts. As Turkish media reported in January this year, an Istanbul-based association has now turned to the Istanbul Administrative Court to lift the curfew for the elderly, which allegedly violates Article 23 of the Turkish Constitution (freedom of movement). Overall, the pandemic in its first year has been a magnifying glass for Turkey`s ongoing executive expansion process under its new Turkish presidential system. This has been reflected not only in the means and methods of combating the pandemic, which have been determined centrally by the president`s executive team without or very limited control by parliament and the courts, but also in the selective application of the rules to the government and its critics and the legal harassment of them, including physicians and health care workers. The WHO criticized the measures taken and called for greater transparency. Although Parliament has been marginalized in the fight against the pandemic, in its first year it has been actively working to introduce various laws that restrict rights in contexts unrelated to the pandemic.
For example, a law passed in the summer of 2020 exacerbated government influence over social media platforms, allowing state authorities to remove (rather than block) content from these platforms and social media giants to appoint a local representative to address authorities` concerns. In late 2020, parliament also passed a law imposing onerous surveillance rules on civil society organizations, including the Turkish Interior Ministry`s ability to replace leaders of these organizations accused of terrorism. As the first year of the pandemic draws to a close, post-pandemic normality does not bode well for fundamental rights and the rule of law. Our experienced health and medical lawyers provide legal advice and advocacy. According to the Turkish Constitution, restrictions on constitutional rights must be promulgated either directly by an Act of Parliament in the form of a law or on the basis of the express approval of such a law. The direct and indirect withdrawal by the government of existing laws has therefore raised questions about the legal basis for the far-reaching restrictions on fundamental rights in the constitution.
