Zeynep AzizTurkey entered a significant judicial confrontation on 11 January 2018 after its Constitutional Court ruled that the pre-trial detention of journalists Mehmet Altan and Şahin Alpay had violated fundamental rights.
The two writers had been imprisoned amid the sweeping investigations that followed the failed coup of July 2016. Both denied allegations linking them to terrorist organisations or an attempt to overthrow the government. The Constitutional Court found violations involving liberty and freedom of expression and indicated that the journalists should be released.
Lower criminal courts, however, declined to implement the decision immediately. Their refusal raised a constitutional question extending far beyond the two cases: whether ordinary courts were bound by judgments of Turkey’s highest constitutional authority. Press-freedom organisations warned that disregarding the ruling weakened legal certainty and judicial hierarchy.
The dispute also attracted European scrutiny. The European Court of Human Rights later examined both detentions and issued judgments in March 2018. The January standoff became an emblematic episode in the debate over judicial independence and media freedom during Turkey’s post-coup state of emergency.
