HOW TO FILE AN INDIVIDUAL APPLICATION TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT?

1. Introduction: Why is Individual Application Important?

Individual applications to the Constitutional Court are one of the most important guarantees of fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey. Individuals who believe their rights, guaranteed by the Constitution, have been violated due to the actions, omissions, or failures of the state's judicial organs, administration, or other authorities exercising public power , can apply to the Constitutional Court after exhausting all ordinary legal remedies.

This is the application process:

Strengthening the individual's position vis-a-vis the state,
It monitors whether judicial decisions comply with human rights standards
Making the Constitution a living text

It is a supplementary oversight mechanism. However, individual application is not a "super appeal" avenue where all legal disputes are re-discussed; it has specific conditions, strict deadlines, and its own admissibility criteria. Therefore, preparing a petition in accordance with the procedure and strategy is of great importance both to avoid loss of rights and to ensure that the application is seriously considered.

2. Legal Nature and Basic Characteristics of Individual Applications

Individual applications are an exceptional and secondary mechanism that can be resorted to after ordinary legal remedies have been exhausted within domestic law. The Constitutional Court does not evaluate evidence by replacing the lower courts; its main task is:

To examine whether a fundamental right has been violated within the specific context of the case .
If a violation is detected, to indicate the necessary measures to remedy the violation and its consequences

This can be summarized as follows.

Within this framework, the key characteristics of an individual application are:

It is based on an act, deed, or omission attributable to public authority,
It must involve an allegation of a violation of a fundamental right or freedom
The applicant must have the status of "victim,"
It must be done on time and in accordance with the procedure.

3. Who Can Apply Individually? (Victim Status)

An individual application is essentially that an individual can use against the state . Therefore:

Natural persons,
Private legal entities (companies, associations, foundations, etc.),

They can file an application claiming that they were directly affected by an action or decision of public authority and that their fundamental rights were violated

The key concept here is "victim status." The applicant must:

There must be a concrete, personal, and current connection between the right that he/she claims has been violated and the situation
It should not be merely a theoretical, abstract, and general complaint, but should express a violation of its own legal status.

For example, merely being disturbed by the existence of a legal provision is not sufficient for an individual application; that provision must have been applied to that person, or there must be a serious and imminent risk of it being applied.

As a rule, public legal entities, state bodies, or institutions exercising public power cannot make individual applications; this avenue is reserved for the individual's position vis-à-vis public power.

4. Against Which Decisions and Which Rights Violations Can an Appeal Be Made?

The subject of an individual application is, in a very broad sense, **“violation of fundamental rights and freedoms”**. However, not every right can be the subject of an individual application. The general framework can be summarized as follows:

It should be guaranteed in the Constitution,
It must also be a right consistent with international human rights documents to which Türkiye is a party
The violation must stem from an act, action, or omission by public authority.

The most frequently alleged human rights violations in practice are:

The right to a fair trial (trial within a reasonable time, equality of arms, right to a reasoned judgment, etc.),
Property rights (expropriation, tax disputes, administrative fines),
Protection of private and family life,
Freedom of expression,
The right to assembly and demonstration,
Personal freedom and security,
Prohibition of ill-treatment and torture,
The right to an effective remedy.

The petition must include:

The right or rights alleged to have been violated must be clearly specified at the name and article level
It is not enough to simply say "my rights have been violated"; separate and concrete justifications must be written for each right.

5. Prerequisite: Exhaustion of Ordinary Legal Remedies and the Principle of Subsidiarity

One of the most critical conditions for an individual application is that all ordinary legal remedies have been exhausted. That is to say:

Based on the first instance court decision,
Ordinary legal remedies such as appeal, cassation or objection have been exhausted,
The decision resulting from these legal remedies must be final.

In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the Constitutional Court,

First instance courts, regional courts of appeal, the Court of Cassation, or the Council of State do not replace each other and re-evaluate the case from beginning to end
First, it expects domestic legal bodies to have the capacity to remedy fundamental rights violations.

Therefore, in an individual application:

Which courts were applied to and on what date?
How these applications are decided,
When was the final decision communicated or learned of?

It should be clearly shown in a timeline format.

In some exceptional cases, it may be argued that the ordinary legal remedy ineffective , causing significant harm to the applicant due to overly formalistic practices or excessively long trial periods. However, these exceptions are not considered convincing if they are merely stated in abstract terms without being substantiated.

6. Application Period: 30 Days. How is it calculated?

For an individual application to be admissible in terms of timeliness , the application must:

The appeal must be filed within 30 days of the notification of the final decision or the date on which it is definitively learned, after exhausting all ordinary legal remedies .

Points to consider regarding the start of the period:

The date of notification is the fundamental rule.
- Supreme Court affirmation decision,
- The regional court decision,
- the final administrative decision,
  specifying which authority issued it, must be clarified.
If no official notification has been given, the date on which the applicant actually learned shall be taken as the basis. In this case, documents and facts showing the date of learning must be explained in the petition.
Time limits are a forfeiture of rights. Even a single day's delay will result in the rejection of the application due to expiration of the time limit, regardless of how strong the argument may be.
Whether or not extraordinary legal remedies such as "appeal for correction of judgment" are pursued does not, as a general rule, alter the start of the individual application period. In practice, the most frequent loss of rights stems from this erroneous assumption.

7. Where and How to Apply?

Individual applications are not only made by going directly to the Constitutional Court. The applicant or their representative:

Directly to the Constitutional Court,
Through the court that issued the decision,
Through any court in the place where it is located,
In prison, through the prison administration,
Abroad, through Turkish consulates

You can submit the application.

If the application is made through a lawyer, the electronic application channel (UYAP) can also be used. In practice, professional representation significantly reduces the risk of errors in terms of both time and document management.

8. Application Form, Attachments and Fees

The Constitutional Court a standard application form . This form includes:

Identity and contact information of the applicant,
If applicable, the information of the proxy or agent,
The action, decision, or omission that is the subject of the application,
Summary of events:
The legal remedies exhausted and their dates,
The rights that are alleged to have been violated,
Evidence and appendices,
Conclusion and requests

They must be filled out separately.

The form:

Incomplete filling,
Failure to sign,
Additional submission without a series compass,

This can lead to decisions regarding deficiencies that may result in the loss of time-related rights.

Applications are also subject to fees. Since the current fee amount changes annually according to the revaluation rate, it is necessary to check the relevant year's tariff before applying. Applicants who cannot afford the fee apply for legal aid . If legal aid is granted, exceptions regarding fees and expenses may apply in favor of the applicant.

9. Petition Strategy: Tips for Admissibility and Substantive Success

An individual application to the Constitutional Court differs from an ordinary appeal. The Court first the admissibility criteria , and only after this stage does it consider the merits. Therefore, the application must be strategically structured, addressing both procedural and substantive aspects.

9.1. Chronological and Simple Description of Events

In the first part:

The events are listed in chronological order.
By avoiding unnecessary details,
Instead of a narrative mixed with the claims and defenses of the parties, it should be summarized in simple and clear language.

Proposed structure:

"The Development of Events"
"The Trial Process and Exhausted Legal Remedies"
"Final Decision and Notification Date"

Under these three subheadings, both the main court proceedings and the appeal/cassation processes should be described chronologically, and the alleged human rights violation at each stage should be briefly stated.

9.2. Clearly Stating the Rights That Have Been Violated

Allegations of violations should be organized under separate subheadings:

"Violation of the Right to a Fair Trial"
"Violation of Property Rights"
"Violation of Freedom of Expression," for example.

In each subheading:

First, how the relevant right arose in the specific case,
Then, how the court decision or administrative action constitutes a disproportionate, arbitrary or unfair interference,
Finally, the concrete consequences of this violation on the applicant's life (financial loss, damage to reputation, deprivation of liberty, etc.) must be explained.

9.3. Organized and Selective Presentation of Evidence

The Constitutional Court is not an evidence-gathering body; however, it needs essential evidence to substantiate the alleged violation . Therefore:

Evidence such as court decisions, minutes, expert reports, correspondence, photographs, and videos and linked to a sequence list .
When explaining the relevant argument in the petition, concrete references should be made, such as "On this page of the expert report in Appendix 3...".

Instead of providing dozens of unnecessary and irrelevant attachments, it is far more effective to create a readable attachment that directly relates to the violation.

9.4. Claims for Compensation, Retrial, and Interim Measures

In the conclusion section:

Detection of the violation,
A retrial to remedy the violation and its consequences ,
Awarding an appropriate amount of moral damages ,
Claim for monetary compensation, if necessary .
Request for temporary measures in emergency situations such as freedom and security, deportation, or serious health risk.

It should be written clearly, sequentially, and concisely.

The court is not obligated to rule on matters not requested. In particular, retrial and compensation for non-pecuniary damages are elements that must be requested together in most cases.

9.5. Common Mistakes

The most common errors encountered in practice are as follows:

Incorrect calculation of the 30-day period and exceeding the deadline,
Filing an application without exhausting ordinary legal remedies,
The petition should be drafted in a manner similar to an "appeal petition addressed to the Supreme Court of Appeals,"
The violations are not specified concretely,
Using insulting, emotional, and inappropriate language,
The application form was submitted incomplete or without a signature.

These errors lead to the rejection of the application on purely formal grounds, without addressing the merits of the case.

10. Consequences of Constitutional Court Decisions: What Happens If a Violation is Detected?

After the Constitutional Court found the application admissible and proceeded to consider the merits:

"There was no violation .
The court can rule that "a violation has occurred" and order the consequences of the violation to be remedied

When a violation is detected, usually:

The court decision or administrative action that led to the violation is sent to the relevant authority for retrial.
The court may award moral and/or material damages to remedy the applicant's suffering .
The reasoning behind the decision establishes a binding human rights standard for lower courts and the administration in similar cases

Therefore, a well-structured individual application has the potential to transform practice not only in the applicant's specific case but in hundreds of similar cases.

11. Conclusion: A strategic, timely, and proper application increases the chances of success

An individual application to the Constitutional Court is a means of seeking redress that has concrete effects on a person's daily life, not just in the abstract world of law. However, for this avenue to be used effectively:

The deadlines must be followed meticulously.
The proper exhaustion of ordinary legal remedies ,
The petition must clearly describe the events, and the allegation of rights violation must be concrete and legally substantiated
Complete fulfillment of technical requirements such as application form, attachments and fees ,
The tone should be calm, respectful, measured, and persuasive

It is mandatory.

A well-prepared individual application is not only a pursuit of individual justice, but also part of a process in which the rights enshrined in the Constitution are given substance, and judicial practice evolves in favor of human rights.

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HOW TO FILE AN INDIVIDUAL APPLICATION TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT?