Politics
Turkish Constitutional Court annuls ‘indefinite’ alimony clause
Türkiye’s Constitutional Court struck down a provision allowing courts to award post-divorce poverty alimony indefinitely, ruling that the measure could impose a disproportionate financial burden on the paying spouse.
The decision, published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday, annulled the phrase “indefinitely” in Article 175 of the Turkish Civil Code, which regulates poverty alimony following divorce.
The ruling removes the requirement that such payments be awarded without a predetermined time limit and clears the way for a new legal framework under which the duration of payments can be determined according to the circumstances of individual cases.
The annulment will take effect nine months after its publication, on June 30, 2027, giving Parliament time to adopt new legislation and prevent a legal vacuum.
Under the existing provision, a spouse who would fall into poverty as a result of divorce may request financial support from the other spouse, provided that the requesting party is not more at fault for the breakdown of the marriage. The amount is determined according to the financial capacity of the paying spouse.
The court said the current system could require a former spouse to remain financially responsible for the consequences of a marriage for the rest of their life without requiring judges to assess specific criteria when determining the duration of payments.
It said a fair balance should be established between the interests of the spouse who risks falling into poverty and those of the spouse required to pay alimony.
The court said factors including the length of the marriage, the spouses’ ages and health, their economic and social circumstances, their ability to participate in the workforce and the impact of the alimony obligation on their post-divorce lives should be considered.
Under current law, periodic alimony automatically ends if the recipient remarries or either party dies. A court may also terminate payments if the recipient lives with another person as though married, is no longer in poverty or leads what the law describes as a “dishonorable life.”
The Constitutional Court said that outside those circumstances, the obligation could continue throughout the payer’s lifetime.
It also noted that the person required to pay poverty alimony does not necessarily have to be at fault for the divorce.
The court said requiring indefinite payments categorically and without criteria could place an excessive burden on the paying spouse and upset the balance the state is required to maintain between competing rights.
The ruling also leaves open the possibility of lifetime alimony in certain cases. The court said lawmakers could establish a system that allows payments to be limited to a specific period, depending on individual circumstances, while also permitting extensions, including potentially for life, when legally defined conditions are met.
Parliament is expected to determine the new rules governing the duration of poverty alimony before the annulment takes effect.
Greece and France have discussed a possible adjustment to the route of a planned undersea electricity cable linking Greece, the Greek Cypriot administration and Israel, as Athens seeks to manage tensions with Türkiye in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to Greek media reports.
Kathimerini reported that Athens and Paris had considered a “light redesign” of the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) that would keep the cable outside an area covered by Türkiye’s Fethiye-Kaş marine park, declared south of the Greek island of Meis in August. The newspaper said the proposed adjustment was intended to reduce the risk of a new dispute rather than signal Greek recognition of Turkish jurisdiction in the area.
On Aug. 16, two presidential decrees published in the Official Gazette have reaffirmed Türkiye’s maritime rights in the Aegean Sea.
One decree designated an area between the Fethiye district of Muğla and the Kaş district of Antalya in the south of the Aegean as a national marine park, while another applied the same designation to an area in the North Aegean Sea, near the coasts of Tekirdağ and Çanakkale.
The project, intended to connect the island of Cyprus with Europe’s electricity grid and eventually extend to Israel, has faced geopolitical and financial challenges. French infrastructure investor Meridiam acquired a 66% stake in GSI in August, increasing Paris’ involvement in the project.
Athens and its partners decided to alter the route of the planned undersea cable following objections from Ankara, according to reports.
The reported decision to adjust the route came after a warning issued by Türkiye’s Defense Ministry on Sept. 24.
In the statement, the ministry said any cable- or pipeline-laying activities within Türkiye’s continental shelf must be coordinated with Ankara, also underlining that Türkiye would continue to protect its rights and interests stemming from its maritime jurisdiction and continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“No unauthorized activity that disregards our country’s rights will be permitted,” the ministry said.
Kathimerini also reported that Athens was considering extending its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles south and west of Crete before new seabed surveys begin.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris on Sept. 9, with talks focusing on energy infrastructure, regional developments and bilateral cooperation.
According to Greek media, Mitsotakis and Macron discussed steps toward implementing the GSI. The meeting came after French investment group Meridiam reached an agreement to become the majority shareholder in the company responsible for developing the GSI project.
The Paris talks took place at a critical stage for the project, particularly as stakeholders consider the resumption of seabed surveys needed for the planned cable.
Separately, Greek newspaper Ta Nea recently published a hypothetical four-stage military scenario involving a “preemptive strike” in the event intelligence indicated an imminent Turkish attack.
The scenario was based on assessments by military analysts and remarks by Greek Chief of the National Defense General Staff Gen. Dimitrios Houpis about Greece’s capacity to conduct strikes at strategic depth.
Ankara and Athens seek to improve relations after years of hostilities, but maritime jurisdictions remain a thorny issue. The countries, which came close to an all-out war in the 1990s over the Aegean Sea, remain vigilant, with Türkiye concentrating on developing its domestic defense industry. Greece, on the other hand, relies on foreign partners to bolster its defenses.
Two former mayors from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) were among 15 suspects remanded into custody on Tuesday on charges of corruption.
Authorities in Kırıkkale, a province neighboring the capital Ankara, have earlier detained 35 suspects in connection with corruption allegations at province’s Yahşihan district. Former Mayors Ahmet Sungur and Osman Türkyılmaz were among them.
Sungur and Türkyılmaz were detained along with their deputies, municipal assembly members and businesspeople on Sept. 24. They are accused of running a criminal organization, bribery, rigging public tenders and fraud.
A crackdown on municipalities where mayors are suspected of corruption began a few years ago in Istanbul and soon spread across the country. Most of those arrested or detained for corruption are from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Probably most notable among them is Ekrem Imamoğlu, mayor of Türkiye’s most populated city, Istanbul. Imamoğlu was arrested last year.
Türkiye’s highest legal body, the Constitutional Court, gave the main opposition New Party (Yeni Parti), abbreviated as YP, 30 days to present a defense in a lawsuit over its name. The Innovation Party (Yenilik Partisi), also abbreviated as YP, requested that New Party change its name, filing a complaint with the General Prosecution Office of the Supreme Court of Appeal, citing concerns that the name of the party founded last July may cause confusion among voters. The office asked New Party to change its name, stating that a request by another political group seeking to establish a “New Party” in 2024 was rejected upon the objection of Innovation Party. The General Prosecution Office is the top authority for registering political parties. When New Party failed to comply with the order, the office took the case to the Constitutional Court.
After New Party presents its defense to the Constitutional Court, the court will reassess whether the name violates laws governing the names of political parties. If a violation is found, the New Party will be mandated to change its name.
The Innovation Party was founded by former Ambassador Öztürk Yılmaz in 2020. Yılmaz served as a lawmaker with the Republican People’s Party (CHP) between 2015 and 2018, before Özgür Özel became CHP chair. Özel was forced out of office last May when a court ruled that his tenure should be nullified over allegations of vote-buying in a 2023 intra-party election. Özel initially planned to fight the verdict through an appeal process but later declared the founding of the New Party with the participation of dozens of lawmakers from CHP, now making it the main opposition party in Parliament.
Parliament will return on Thursday from its summer recess. The 51-day break will end with a ceremony at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is scheduled to speak. A busy agenda awaits lawmakers from across the political spectrum as bills postponed until the new legislative year will be up for discussion and approval.
Before the next summer recess, which will begin in July 2027, lawmakers will tackle new “judiciary packages,” omnibus bills that serve as additions to the patchwork of the Constitution that the government seeks to replace with a new one. The new constitution will also likely be on the agenda, as the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) aspires to replace the current one, which dates back to the era of the military junta that seized power in 1980.
The 13th Judiciary Package will be among the priorities of Parliament, and it involves several items, including regulations and laws concerning social media, divorce and alimony.
Under a proposed package being prepared by the Justice Ministry and the AK Party parliamentary group, a new regulation will be drafted in line with the Constitutional Court’s reasoning for annulling provisions on indefinite alimony. The proposal is expected to introduce a minimum threshold for alimony payments and establish different categories based on the length of marriages.
The package will also include several regulations concerning divorce proceedings. Lengthy divorce cases are believed to increase tensions between couples and trigger violence and femicides, according to findings in reports presented to Parliament in the past. To prevent this, a judge will be able to grant a divorce without waiting for other disputes to be resolved if they conclude that “the marital union has effectively and emotionally ended and it is not possible for the spouses to establish a shared life again.” Court proceedings concerning issues such as alimony, child custody and the division of property will continue separately.
Another key regulation in the package will concern social media accounts. Authorities are planning to introduce a verification system that would require social media platforms to be used under users’ real identities. The measure is also expected to help prevent crimes such as illegal betting, drug trafficking and prostitution. Technical work is continuing on an identity verification system that is being considered for implementation through the e-Government portal. Technical details on how the system will operate both domestically and abroad are expected to be clarified in the coming period.
Parliament will also debate the establishment of a committee to monitor the terror-free Türkiye initiative. Before the recess, lawmakers approved a law on the process, which aims for the full dissolution of the terrorist group PKK. The 12-article legislation received broad parliamentary backing, with 468 lawmakers voting in favor, 88 against and six abstaining. The legislation lays out legal procedures for members of the PKK who lay down their arms and surrender to Turkish authorities as the organization moves toward dissolution and disarmament. It includes provisions allowing the deferral of prosecution or prison sentences in certain circumstances, while establishing different legal procedures depending on an individual’s position within the organization and involvement in criminal activity.
The law does not constitute a general amnesty and does not eliminate existing convictions, change the legal classification of crimes or broadly remove criminal liability, according to the justification accompanying the legislation.
Also on the agenda is a draft bill concerning the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay). The nine-article bill will redefine the responsibilities of the Red Crescent. Another bill on the table concerns Booking.com, which has been subject to an access ban for the past nine years. The bill is expected to pave the way for the reopening of the accommodation website.
Suspended in 2017 following court rulings over tax evasion and unfair competition, Booking.com, one of the leading providers in the sector, had been restricted to handling foreign travel for Turkish users. The proposed law would clear the way for the travel giant to fully restart domestic and international booking services across Türkiye.
Accordingly, foreign digital accommodation platforms will be required to obtain a permit to operate in Türkiye, according to a report by Sabah newspaper.
Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz chaired the second meeting of National Solidarity and Social Integration Board established exclusively for terror-free Türkiye initiative. A written statement was issued after Monday’s meeting that aims coordination of the initiative at the highest level for full dissolution of the terrorist group PKK.
The statement said that officials decided upon several matters regarding the process. “The establishment, duties and areas of authority of the subcommittees formed within the Board and tasked with ensuring that the process is carried out effectively, swiftly and in a coordinated manner, as well as inter-institutional coordination issues, were discussed and decided upon,” the statement said.
Among participants of the meeting were Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi, National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, secretary-general of the Turkish Presidency Hakkı Susmaz, National Intelligence Organization (MIT) chair Ibrahim Kalın and secretary-general of the National Security Board Okay Memiş.
The terror-Free Türkiye initiative unofficially began in 2024 upon a call by veteran politician Devlet Bahçeli, leader of government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Bahçeli has suggested that PKK’s jailed ringleader Abdullah Öcalan order its group to lay down arms, “at Parliament.” Öcalan consented, though he remained in jail, and within months, and after a historic call by Öcalan, the PKK agreed on disarmament. In return, the Turkish Parliament passed a law in August for deferral of sentencing and prosecution for terrorist group’s members not involved in acts of violence. Through security forces and MIT, Türkiye currently monitors the course of disarmament that began in a symbolic way last year after several PKK members burned down their weapons at a ceremony in northern Iraq, where senior cadres of the PKK are based.
“At the Board meeting, the historic responsibility assumed by the Board as part of the ongoing process, as well as its importance in ensuring peace among our people and strengthening social cohesion, was once again emphasized. The current situation was reviewed while ongoing activities related to the implementation of the law and activities planned for the coming period were discussed from multiple perspectives, followed by a general assessment of the situation,” the statement on Monday said.
Speaking at an event in Istanbul on Sunday, Yılmaz stated that terrorism had been a major obstacle to Türkiye’s economic and social development for many years.
Noting that it was not merely a security issue but also had economic and social consequences, Yılmaz said: “We have the Presidency of Strategy and Budget under the Presidency, and together with them, we tried to calculate the economic losses we have suffered due to this issue of terrorism for more than 40 years. Do you know what the figure was? At least $2.3 trillion. This country has suffered a loss of $2.3 trillion. We believe Türkiye would be in a very different position today if we had been able to spend these resources on development, education, health care, production and investment.” Yılmaz said terrorism had negatively affected not only public resources but also human resources and private-sector investments, explaining that security problems had caused people and capital to move to different regions. Yılmaz said the economic potential of these regions could be better utilized once terrorism came to an end, adding that new opportunities would emerge in many areas, from tourism and agriculture to trade and investment, as peace and security became permanent.
Regarding the work of the board he chaired, Yılmaz said subcommittees had been established to work on different areas, adding that the first stage of the process was the laying down of arms and dissolution of organizational structures, while the second stage would involve determining that these developments had taken place concretely on the ground and carrying out the related legal process. “The first stage is to determine on the ground that this process of dissolution and disarmament has taken place, to report on it and to have it confirmed by a decision of the National Security Council. The second stage will not begin until this is completed. This process of verification and confirmation is currently ongoing. We are meticulously and coordinately carrying out our work on this process with all relevant institutions on the ground, and we will continue to do so. We believe we will successfully complete this process. In the second stage, there will be certain legal procedures, and those procedures will come into effect. A board will also be established in our Parliament to monitor this process. Our board will periodically provide information to the parliamentary board. We will also keep our Parliament informed about the work being carried out.”
Former Ambassador Mehmet Güllüoğlu has been appointed to two senior positions, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced on Monday.
Tom Fletcher, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, appointed Güllüoğlu as director of OCHA’s Humanitarian Sector Division and head of OCHA Geneva, according to the agency.
Güllüoğlu “brings more than two decades of experience in humanitarian action, disaster management and public health,” OCHA said in a statement.
Güllüoğlu, 44, previously served as the head of Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and the director general of the Turkish Red Crescent. Most recently, he served as Türkiye’s humanitarian aid coordinator for Palestine to ensure the effective delivery and coordination of the country’s humanitarian assistance to Gaza. He also served as Türkiye’s ambassador to Tanzania from 2021 to 2025.
A graduate of Marmara University’s Faculty of Medicine, he trained in family medicine, humanitarian aid and EU projects. He has worked as a volunteer doctor with NGOs in crisis zones including Palestine, Syria, Somalia, Kenya and Jordan. OCHA coordinates the global humanitarian response to emergencies and works to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches people affected by crises.
-
Politics3 days agoTürkiye pursues dialogue, diplomacy at UN General Assembly
-
Economy3 days agoTürkiye bolsters ‘agro diplomacy’ to minimize impact of geopolitical risks
-
Politics3 days agoTürkiye, Pakistan, Saudi military chiefs meet in Riyadh
-
Politics2 days agoTürkiye, UAE set for new talks amid Iran war, Israeli expansion
-
Sports3 days agoSpain crush English comeback hopes in Nations League thriller
-
Sports3 days agoChina teen takes record javelin gold to light up ‘sad’ Asian Games
-
Politics3 days agoTürkiye offers condolences as Kazakhstan exercise death toll hits 14
-
Economy2 days agoTrump Inc. faces congressional grilling if Democrats win midterms