The Structure and Duties of the Court

Election of the Justices

The Turkish Constitutional Court consists of 15 Justices.

Two of these Justices are elected with a secret voting by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from among three candidates to be nominated for each vacant position by and from among the president and members of the Court of Accounts. The Grand National Assembly also elects one Justice from among three candidates nominated by the heads of the bar associations from among self-employed lawyers.

The President of the Republic selects three Justices from the Court of Cassation, two Justices from the Council of State among three candidates nominated for each vacant position by their respective General Assembly amongst its presidents and members; three Justices, at least two of which must be law graduates, from three candidates nominated for each vacant position by the Council of Higher Education amongst Professors in the fields of law, economics and political sciences of higher education institutions and who are not members of the Council itself; four Justices from among high-level bureaucrats , attorneys, senior judges and prosecutors, and rapporteurs of the Constitutional Court with experience of at least five years.

A president and two vice-presidents of the Court are elected for a term of four years by secret ballot from among its Justices with an absolute majority of the total number of Justices and they may be re-elected. The Constitutional Court’s Justices are not allowed to take charge in another duty position.

Justices of the Court are elected for a term of twelve years. They shall retire at the age of sixty-five. The Constitutional Court membership ends automatically in the case of conviction of a Justice for a crime requiring to be dismissed from the profession or with the decision of the absolute majority of the total number of the Justices of the Constitutional Court in the case the Justice is not able to perform his duties due to health problems.