A criminal investigation in Turkey is often decided long before the first trial hearing. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the investigation phase begins when the public prosecutor learns of circumstances giving the impression that a crime may have been committed, and from that point the prosecutor must immediately start looking into the truth in […]
Compensation for unlawful arrest or detention in Turkey is not a marginal remedy. It is one of the clearest ways Turkish law tries to restore the balance after the State has interfered with personal liberty outside the limits of lawful criminal procedure. In Turkish practice, this remedy matters not only in obvious cases of illegal […]
Foreign nationals facing criminal investigation or prosecution in Turkey do not stand outside the Turkish criminal justice system, and they do not lose their core defense rights because of citizenship status. The starting point under Turkish constitutional law is broad: Article 36 guarantees the right to a fair trial, and Article 38 protects the presumption […]
Juvenile criminal defense law in Turkey is built on the idea that children who come into contact with the criminal justice system must be treated differently from adults, both because of their age and because Turkish law places child welfare, development, and reintegration at the center of the process. The basic legal framework comes from […]
Participation, aiding, and joint criminal liability in Turkey are among the most important topics in Turkish criminal law because many criminal cases do not involve a single actor operating alone. Business crimes, violent incidents, organized conduct, fraud files, customs cases, digital crimes, and even ordinary street offenses often raise the same central question: who is […]
Attempted crimes under the Turkish Penal Code occupy a central place in Turkish criminal law because they address a recurring legal problem: what happens when a person clearly starts to commit a crime, but the crime is not completed? Turkish law does not treat every failed criminal plan the same way. It does not punish […]
Intent, negligence, and criminal liability in Turkey form the backbone of Turkish criminal law because they determine not only whether an act is punishable, but also how the legal system classifies blame, assigns responsibility, and measures punishment. In Turkish criminal adjudication, it is never enough to show that a harmful event happened. The court must […]
Self-defense under Turkish criminal law is one of the most important justification doctrines in the Turkish Penal Code because it can completely remove criminal liability when the statutory conditions are met. In practice, self-defense is often raised in homicide, injury, threat, weapon, home-intrusion, and group-violence files, but the doctrine is not limited to one offense […]
Criminal defense for smuggling allegations in Turkey begins with a point that is often missed in practice: a “smuggling case” is not a single generic accusation. In Türkiye, customs-related criminal exposure sits at the intersection of the Anti-Smuggling Law No. 5607, the Customs Law No. 4458, and the Code of Criminal Procedure No. 5271, while […]
Drug offense defense in Turkish criminal courts starts with a rule that is easy to say but difficult to apply well: not every drug file is the same offense. Turkish law separates trafficking-type conduct from personal-use conduct, and it also creates neighboring offenses for facilitating use and special rules for effective remorse and treatment-oriented diversion. […]