History

The Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of the Turkic World (TÜRK-AY) was established on 27 April 2022, at the First Meeting of the Heads and Representatives of the TÜRK-AY, held at the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, Türkiye, hosted by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Türkiye on the occasion of the celebration of its 60th anniversary, with the participation of the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the Constitutional Courts/Councils of the Turkic world, at the end of which they adopted the Istanbul Declaration on the Establishment of the TÜRK-AY.

Within this scope, the Heads/Representatives of the Constitutional Courts/Councils of the Turkic world present at the meeting declared their commitment to contribute to further promotion of democracy, the rule of law, and protection of human rights among the Turkic States, considering the novel challenges in the constitutional and human rights adjudication arising in the context of social relations of the century and particularly requiring more solidarity in the Turkic world.

In this respect, they also recognized the need for greater cooperation and agreed in principle to engage in activities with a view to institutionalize a constitutional law forum among the respective Courts/Councils of the Turkic world, as an independent forum which should avoid organizational formalities and procedure; rather, a flexible framework might be drawn up to exchange information and best practices, to share experiences, and to discuss issues of common interest in constitutional jurisprudence and practice among the Turkic States, to hold round table discussions on the case-law of the respective Courts/Councils on annual or biannual basis and to contribute to strengthening the solidarity and cooperation among these respective institutions.

As a result, a cooperation agreement was signed by and between President of the Constitutional Court of Türkiye Mr. Zühtü Arslan, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan Mr. Farhad Abdullayev, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Uzbekistan Mr. Mirza Ulugbek Abdusalomov, Vice-Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Kyrgyz Republic Mr. Karybek Duısheev, and Chairman of the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan Mr. Kairat Mami who attended the meeting online.

In his speech following the signing ceremony, President Arslan indicating that there would be an exchange of the accumulation of experience and knowledge in the field of constitutional jurisdiction, also expressed “From now on, we would focus on the issuance of a statute. We will form a draft statute and share this draft with you all. In the light of your review and comments, we will reproduce the draft statute in final form. We will thereby found a new conference in the world of constitutional jurisdiction.”

On 24 December 2022, the Statute of the TÜRK-AY was finally adopted and signed in Istanbul, Türkiye, at the Second Meeting of the Heads and Representatives of the TÜRK-AY, in which convened the Heads/Representatives of the respective constitutional jurisdictions from the Republic of Türkiye, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic and Republic of Uzbekistan. The Heads/Representatives of the constitutional jurisdictions of Turkmenistan and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus attended the signing ceremony as guests.