4.3.4 Environmental Criminal Penalties in the Turkish
Criminal Code
Turkey has a fairly comprehensive set of criminal provisions dealing with environmental matters. While in the older Turkish Criminal Code there were no rules
regarding environmental crimes, environmental offences were mentioned in the
Turkish Criminal Code under the headline of “The Offences Against Environment”.
In this text, four crimes were set out. These are the intentional pollution of environment in Article 181, the “pollution of environment by negligence” in Article
182, causing noise pollution in Article 183, and pollution caused by construction in
Article 184. The arrangement of environmental crimes under a specific heading
assigned environmental pollution an injustice value according to protected jural
advantages. Additionally, the first article of the new Turkish Criminal Code (2004),
specifically mentions protection of the environment as one of its aims, thereby
demonstrating the importance placed by law makers on environmental matters.
Articles about environmental crimes also exist in the first part of the third
volume under the headline ‘The Crimes Creating General Danger’ in the Turkish
Criminal Code’s ‘Crimes Against The Public’. These crimes are: scattering radiation (Article 172), causing explosion by atomic energy (Article 173) and storage
or delivery of hazardous substances without permission (Article 174). It is possible
to see some laws about the punitive regulations concerning the protection of natural
and urban nature in Public Health Law, Environmental Law, Fisheries Law and
Forest Law. Apart from these laws there are some misdemeanours relating to the
protection of environment in the Misdemeanour Law. Every ordinary citizen may
apply to protect nature upon hearing about infractions, and they may want the
authorities to take necessary precautions without searching for damage and benefit
conditions.
4.4 Environmental Administration in Turkey
4.4.1 New Presidential Government System in General
Following the constitutional amendment of the referendum on 16 April 2017, the
Presidential and Parliamentary General Elections held on 24 June 2018 were held in
Turkey. As a result of this amendment, the new government system, called the
Presidential Government System, was adopted both legally and de facto. The
president will directly or indirectly determine and execute all public policies that are
of concern to society, from security to foreign policy, education and health, and will
follow their implementation under the new system for five years (Sobacı et al.,
2018).
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S. S. Gökalp Alıca
Criminal Code
Turkey has a fairly comprehensive set of criminal provisions dealing with environmental matters. While in the older Turkish Criminal Code there were no rules
regarding environmental crimes, environmental offences were mentioned in the
Turkish Criminal Code under the headline of “The Offences Against Environment”.
In this text, four crimes were set out. These are the intentional pollution of environment in Article 181, the “pollution of environment by negligence” in Article
182, causing noise pollution in Article 183, and pollution caused by construction in
Article 184. The arrangement of environmental crimes under a specific heading
assigned environmental pollution an injustice value according to protected jural
advantages. Additionally, the first article of the new Turkish Criminal Code (2004),
specifically mentions protection of the environment as one of its aims, thereby
demonstrating the importance placed by law makers on environmental matters.
Articles about environmental crimes also exist in the first part of the third
volume under the headline ‘The Crimes Creating General Danger’ in the Turkish
Criminal Code’s ‘Crimes Against The Public’. These crimes are: scattering radiation (Article 172), causing explosion by atomic energy (Article 173) and storage
or delivery of hazardous substances without permission (Article 174). It is possible
to see some laws about the punitive regulations concerning the protection of natural
and urban nature in Public Health Law, Environmental Law, Fisheries Law and
Forest Law. Apart from these laws there are some misdemeanours relating to the
protection of environment in the Misdemeanour Law. Every ordinary citizen may
apply to protect nature upon hearing about infractions, and they may want the
authorities to take necessary precautions without searching for damage and benefit
conditions.
4.4 Environmental Administration in Turkey
4.4.1 New Presidential Government System in General
Following the constitutional amendment of the referendum on 16 April 2017, the
Presidential and Parliamentary General Elections held on 24 June 2018 were held in
Turkey. As a result of this amendment, the new government system, called the
Presidential Government System, was adopted both legally and de facto. The
president will directly or indirectly determine and execute all public policies that are
of concern to society, from security to foreign policy, education and health, and will
follow their implementation under the new system for five years (Sobacı et al.,
2018).
66
S. S. Gökalp Alıca