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The Turkish Case: The Use of Institutional Pressure Relief Valves

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Public Preferences and Institutional Designs

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Abstract

Golan-Nadir reveals that in Turkey the disparity between public preferences and long-sustained marriage policy is rooted in the employment of institutional tactics by state institutions. As the chapter shows, the extensive use of institutional pressure relief valves is the cause of enduring gaps between public preferences and institutional designs. The chapter thoroughly discloses the development and evolution of institutional pressure relief valves—namely, inexpensive procedural arrangements to contain the social-demographic consequences involved with unofficial religious marriages. Finally, this chapter presents data from the 2016 Public Opinion Survey on Marriage Policy to demonstrate the relative familiarity of Muslim-Turks with the common practice of conducting two complementary marriage ceremonies. Such familiarity serves as an indicator for the effectiveness of this tool in preventing societal pressure towards state institutions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Milliyet, 2 June 1991.

  2. 2.

    Eight of the Amnesty bills passed; 1933, 1945, 1950, 1956, 1965, 1975, 1981, and the last one in 1991 (see in: Örücü, 2004, 2016). The other three did not pass legislation for procedural reasons.

  3. 3.

    Decision number: 2330 (26 October 1933).

  4. 4.

    Decision number: 2576 (24 December 1934).

  5. 5.

    Decision number: 4727 (25 April 1945).

  6. 6.

    Retrieved from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey official Website. Decision number: 5524. (13 July 1950). See: https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/tutanaklar/TUTANAK/TBMM/d09/c001/b022/tbmm090010220606.pdf

  7. 7.

    Retrieved from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey official Website. Decision number: 6652. (13 April 1955). See: https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/tutanaklar/TUTANAK/TBMM/d10/c006/tbmm10006063.pdf

  8. 8.

    Retrieved from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey official Website. Decision number: 554. (8 July 1964). See: https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/tutanaklar/TUTANAK/MM__/d01/c031/mm__01031122.pdf

  9. 9.

    Retrieved from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey official Website. Decision number: 2526. (18 September 1981). See: https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/tutanaklar/TUTANAK/MGK_/d01/c004/mgk_01004072.pdf

  10. 10.

    Retrieved from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey official Website. Decision number: 3716. (11 June 1991). See: https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/tutanaklar/TUTANAK/TBMM/d18/c060/tbmm18060115ss0514.pdf

  11. 11.

    Acquis communautaire (Community acquis) is the accumulated legislation, legal acts, and court decisions which constitute the body of European Union law.

  12. 12.

    Council of the European Union (2001), Council decision of 8 March 2001, on the Principles, Priorities, Intermediate Objectives and Conditions Contained in the Accession Partnership with the Republic of Turkey (2001/235/EC). Official Journal of the European Union. L85. pp. 13-23. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32001D0235&from=EN

  13. 13.

    Turkish TBMM archive: "LegislativeBill pertaining to amendment to Civil Code, proposed by Ankara MPYücel Seçkiner, Ankara MP Esvet Özdoğu and their 4 colleagues," 22 November 2001, pp. 78-109, 111-115. See: https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/tutanaklar/TUTANAK/TBMM/d21/c076/tbmm21076024.pdf

  14. 14.

    Book 5 of the Turkish Civil Code, 2001.

  15. 15.

    The 2002 REGULAR REPORT ON TURKEY’S PROGRESS TOWARDS ACCESSION, COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Brussels, SEC (2002) 1412, 9.10.2002. p. 40. See: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhoodenlargement/sites/near/files/archives/pdf/key_documents/2002/tu_en.pdf

  16. 16.

    TURKEY’S NEW EUROPEAN UNION STRATEGY Determination in the Political Reform Process Continuity in Socio-Economic Transformation Effectiveness in Communication, REPUBLIC OF TURKEY MINISTRY FOR EU AFFAIRS. See at: http://www.ab.gov.tr/files/5%20Ekim/turkeys_new_eu_strategy.pdf

  17. 17.

    C&B, Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 15 May 2016.

  18. 18.

    Milliyet, 21 October 2009.

  19. 19.

    Today's Zaman is an English-language daily based in Turkey. Established on 17 January 2007. It is the English-language edition of the Turkish Daily Zaman. As of March 2015, this newspaper was nationalized by the state and is no longer operational.

  20. 20.

    Interview with author, 26 August 2014.

  21. 21.

    Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 8 April 2016.

  22. 22.

    Constitutional Court, Decision number: 2015/51, 27 May 2015.

  23. 23.

    The Turkish Constitutional Court was established by the 1961 Constitution. It was modeled on the European constitutional justice practice. Like most European Constitutional Courts, it exercises a posteriori control of the consistency of the laws with the Constitution. The Turkish Constitutional Court began to carry out its activities upon the enactment of the Law on the Establishment and Judgment Procedures of the Constitutional Court (No. 44, 22 April 1962). The power to review the constitutionality of laws was endowed solely with the Constitutional Court by the 1961 Constitution.

    See official website at: http://www.constitutionalcourt.gov.tr/inlinepages/constitutionalcourt/shorthistory.html

  24. 24.

    Constitutional Court, Decision number: 2015/51, Decision Date: 27 May 2015. Available: http://www.constitutionalcourt.gov.tr/inlinepages/leadingjudgements/ConstitutionalityReview/judgment/2015-51.pdf

  25. 25.

    The 5th Article of the Turkish Constitution stresses that the state is responsible for maintaining peace, happiness and prosperity in the society, protecting the democracy, independence and territorial integrity. The state is also responsible for removing the political, economical and social barriers which restrict basic individual rights and freedoms.

  26. 26.

    The 10th Article of the Turkish Constitution regards all Turkish citizens equal regardless of their language, religion, race, color, gender, political view, philosophical view, sect,etcetra.

  27. 27.

    The17th Article of the Turkish Constitution stresses that everyone has the right of life and the right to protect and improve his/her spiritual existence and it is claimed that corporeal integrity of the individual shall not be violated except under medical necessity.

  28. 28.

    The 20th Article of the Turkish Constitution orders that every individual has the right for demanding respect for their private life and family life.

  29. 29.

    The24th Article of the Turkish Constitution orders that everyone has the freedom of conscience, religious belief and conviction. Acts of worship, religious rites and ceremonies shall be conducted freely, as long as they do not violate the provisions of Article 14 (violating the indivisible integrity of the State with its territory and nation, and endangering the existence of the democratic and secular order of the Republic based on human rights).

  30. 30.

    Constitutional Court, Decision number: 2015/51, Decision Date: 27 May 2015. Available: http://www.constitutionalcourt.gov.tr/inlinepages/leadingjudgements/ConstitutionalityReview/judgment/2015-51.pdf

  31. 31.

    Retrieved from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey official Website (12 February 2014). See: http://www2.tbmm.gov.tr/d24/2/2-2005.pdf

  32. 32.

    Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 29 June2016.

  33. 33.

    The Constitutional Court, the Court of Cassation, the Council of State, the Military Court of Cassation, the Supreme Military Administrative Court, and the Court of Jurisdictional Conflicts are the Supreme Courts mentioned in the judicial section of the Turkish Constitution.

  34. 34.

    Supreme Court rulings through the online search engines: https://www.peacepalacelibrary.nl/2016/06/legal-database-hukuk-turk/ and http://www.kazanci.com.tr/

  35. 35.

    Dr. Şebnem Akipek-Öcal is a professor at the Faculty of Law at Ankara University. Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 14 December 2015.

  36. 36.

    Court of Cassation, Decision number: 2005/9503, Decision date: 4 October 2005.

  37. 37.

    European Court of Human Rights , Decision number: 3976/05, Decision date: 20 January 2009.

  38. 38.

    Court of Cassation, Decision number: 2007/8718, Decision date: 28 May 2007.

  39. 39.

    Council of State, Decision number: 1995/188, Decision date: 26 January 1995.

  40. 40.

    The Council of Stateis the highest administrative court in Turkey and is based in Ankara. Its role and tasks are prescribed by the 1982 Constitution of Turkey within article 155.

  41. 41.

    Council of State, Decision number: 2002/1908, Decision date: 1 April 2002.

  42. 42.

    Court of Cassation, Decision Number: 2008/16590, Decision date: 13 October 2008.

  43. 43.

    Milliyet, 8 September 2002.

  44. 44.

    Prior to launching their two big national campaigns related to the Civil and Penal Codes, decisive cooperation by women’s groups resulted in: (a) the annulment by the Constitutional Court of Article 159 of the Civil Code, which stated that women needed their husbands’ consent to work outside the home (1990); (b) the repeal by parliament of Article 438 of the Penal Code, which reduced punishment for rapists by one-third if the victim was a sex worker (1990); and (c) a new law enabling a survivor of domestic violence to file a court case for a protection order against the perpetrator of the violence (1997). However, the women’s movement’s most significant impact occurred during the adoption of the New Civil Code (2002) and the amendment of the Penal Code (2004). (See in: Ayata & Tütüncü, 2008).

  45. 45.

    Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 20 December 2015.

  46. 46.

    Dr. Canan Aslan-Akman is a professor at the department of Political Science and Public Administration, at the Middle East Technical University. Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 7 December 2016.

  47. 47.

    For the Başkent Women’s Platform, Official website, see: http://www.baskentkadin.org/tr/ the NGO is based in Ankara, and was founded in 1995.

  48. 48.

    Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 12 November 2015.

  49. 49.

    F&B, Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 22 November 2015.

  50. 50.

    Milliyet, 18 June 1986.

  51. 51.

    Milliyet, 26 November 1986.

  52. 52.

    Milliyet, 30 December 1986.

  53. 53.

    Milliyet, 18 February 1999.

  54. 54.

    Milliyet, 25 January 1997.

  55. 55.

    Milliyet, 22 September 1997.

  56. 56.

    Milliyet, 17 March 1998.

  57. 57.

    Milliyet, 8 September 2000.

  58. 58.

    Milliyet, 14 February 2013.

  59. 59.

    Milliyet, 19 April 1982.

  60. 60.

    The Family Research Institution (Aile Araştırmaları Kurumu) was a body affiliated to the Prime Minister Office. It was established on 29 December 1989 in order to carry out research about social problems related to families. It was restructured on 13 November 2004 as General Directorate of Family and Social Researches under the Prime Minister’s Office through Law no. 5256 (https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/kanunlar/k5256.html). In 2011, this body was abolished during reconstruction of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies (http://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/4.5.633.pdf). There are some reports published as books by Family Research Institution.

  61. 61.

    Hürriyet Daily News, 1 February 1999. See: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/new-state-regulation-seeks-to-phase-out-religious-marriages.aspx?pageID=438&n=new-state-regulation-seeks-to-phase-out-religious-marriages-1999-01-02

  62. 62.

    Dr. Canan Aslan-Akman is a professor at the department of Political Science and Public Administration, at the Middle East Technical University. Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 7 December 2016.

  63. 63.

    Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 12 May 2016.

  64. 64.

    Şenal Sarıhan, Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 29 June2016.

  65. 65.

    Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 12 November 2015.

  66. 66.

    Law number 7039 (Article 6), 3 November 2017. Available at: http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/main.aspx?home=; http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2017/11/20171103.htm&main=; http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2017/11/20171103.htm

  67. 67.

    Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 11 December 2015.

  68. 68.

    P&F, Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 13 April 2016.

  69. 69.

    Article 230, clauses 5 and 6 of the Criminal Code.

  70. 70.

    “Turkey court nixes religious marriage charge”, Anadolu Agency online, 30 May 2015. Available:

    http://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/519233%2D%2Dturkey-court-nixes-religious-marriage-charge

  71. 71.

    Interview with author’s assistant (in Turkish), 29 June 2016.

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  1. Center for Policy Research, The University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, New York, USA

    Niva Golan-Nadir

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Golan-Nadir, N. (2022). The Turkish Case: The Use of Institutional Pressure Relief Valves. In: Public Preferences and Institutional Designs. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84554-4_9

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