Electronic document in the context of the subject matter of document forgery offenses

In the Turkish Panel Code No. 5237, documents constitute the subject matter of document forgery offences regulated under the title of offences against public trust. With today's technological advances, forgery offences are no longer limited to classical documents and have become a crime that can be committed in terms of electronic documents. As a result of the innovations brought by the digital age, electronic documents have started to replace physical documents in many areas of life. As a result of the transactions carried out in electronic environment, many transactions that have legal consequences are carried out both in the public and private sectors, and this situation increases the use of electronic documents. The rapid increase in the use of electronic documents has also brought some problems to the agenda. For this reason, it is important to determine the position of electronic documents in terms of document forgery offences. Whether electronic documents can be the subject of document forgery offences regulated in the Turkish Panel Code No. 5237 and if electronic documents are to be accepted as documents, under which conditions this situation is possible is an important subject of debate today. In our study, in order to eliminate the contradictions in the decisions of the Court of Cassation and to put an end to the discussions in practice, firstly, general information about the crime is given. Then, the elements that the document, which is the subject of document forgery offences, should carry are explained and the validity of these elements in terms of electronic documents is examined. Finally, solution proposals are given by taking into account today's technological and sociological conditions regarding the issues of discussion.