regarding environmental issues, and in many high courts’ decisions it is possible
to see the references to those agreements. This is particularly because Article 90
of the Constitution states that:
In the case of a conflict between international agreements, duly put into effect, concerning
fundamental rights and freedoms and the laws due to differences in provisions on the same
matter, the provisions of international agreements shall prevail.
Even if it is mostly ignored in practice, it is very important for the court to state
this in its decision and to take it as a ground rule. Council of State Judicial
Chamber 6, docket no. 2010/2375 and Council of State Judicial Chamber 10,
docket no. 2009/1713 refer to liabilities arising from international agreements.
In this regard, sustainable development and protection of the environment are
evaluated as priorities. Decisions evaluate the consistency of practices with both
national and international agreements.
• Urgent Expropriation
Urgent expropriation is an increasing problem that is seen in most environmental cases. Private properties are expropriated to construct energy investments or urban transformations. Under Expropriation Law (No. 2942) Article
27, it is possible to apply this only under extraordinary security problems with
the agreement of the Council of Ministers. However, most energy investment
areas have been urgently expropriated, mostly to prevent conflicts in these areas
(Rize Haber, 2016). In this sense, the decision by Council of State Judicial
Chamber 6, docket no. 2008/8773 is very important for stating the rules of
urgent expropriation, decided in favour of environmental interests.
• Expertise Reports
As mentioned before, expertise reports are crucial for environmental cases as
they are the important components of the decisions made by the courts. However,
these reports are very expensive (Kuzey Ormanları, 2015) and people in environmental struggles mostly collect this money by campaigning for it. It should be
acknowledged that this is not easy for these people. Keeping this in mind,
Council of State Judicial Chamber 14, docket no. 2012/1672 categorized this
payment as public interest and directed this payment to the Treasury Department
or related defendant administrative office. Even though this is not a common
practice in Turkish law, it would be useful to use this decision as an example in
future cases and it would lighten the burden on environmental activists.
7.5 Challenges of the Project
From the beginning of the project to the end of it, there were many challenges. The
very first challenge was the timeline of the project. Although it was planned to
finish all activities in the predicted timeline, it was discovered that the project
required a massive amount of work, especially in terms of access to the decisions
7 Environmental Cases …
121
to see the references to those agreements. This is particularly because Article 90
of the Constitution states that:
In the case of a conflict between international agreements, duly put into effect, concerning
fundamental rights and freedoms and the laws due to differences in provisions on the same
matter, the provisions of international agreements shall prevail.
Even if it is mostly ignored in practice, it is very important for the court to state
this in its decision and to take it as a ground rule. Council of State Judicial
Chamber 6, docket no. 2010/2375 and Council of State Judicial Chamber 10,
docket no. 2009/1713 refer to liabilities arising from international agreements.
In this regard, sustainable development and protection of the environment are
evaluated as priorities. Decisions evaluate the consistency of practices with both
national and international agreements.
• Urgent Expropriation
Urgent expropriation is an increasing problem that is seen in most environmental cases. Private properties are expropriated to construct energy investments or urban transformations. Under Expropriation Law (No. 2942) Article
27, it is possible to apply this only under extraordinary security problems with
the agreement of the Council of Ministers. However, most energy investment
areas have been urgently expropriated, mostly to prevent conflicts in these areas
(Rize Haber, 2016). In this sense, the decision by Council of State Judicial
Chamber 6, docket no. 2008/8773 is very important for stating the rules of
urgent expropriation, decided in favour of environmental interests.
• Expertise Reports
As mentioned before, expertise reports are crucial for environmental cases as
they are the important components of the decisions made by the courts. However,
these reports are very expensive (Kuzey Ormanları, 2015) and people in environmental struggles mostly collect this money by campaigning for it. It should be
acknowledged that this is not easy for these people. Keeping this in mind,
Council of State Judicial Chamber 14, docket no. 2012/1672 categorized this
payment as public interest and directed this payment to the Treasury Department
or related defendant administrative office. Even though this is not a common
practice in Turkish law, it would be useful to use this decision as an example in
future cases and it would lighten the burden on environmental activists.
7.5 Challenges of the Project
From the beginning of the project to the end of it, there were many challenges. The
very first challenge was the timeline of the project. Although it was planned to
finish all activities in the predicted timeline, it was discovered that the project
required a massive amount of work, especially in terms of access to the decisions
7 Environmental Cases …
121