Legal analysis of the monumental trees in Turkish legislation

In this study, the Law on the Protection of Cultural and Natural Assets in force in Turkish Legislation, especially the Law on the Protection of Cultural and Natural Assets, the Law on National Parks, the Regulations, especially the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles Regarding the Determination, Registration and Approval of Protected Areas, and the Environment, Information was given on the legal status of monumental trees by taking into consideration the Ministry of Urbanisation and Climate Change Resolution No. 117 and the Turkish Standards Institute Standard on Monumental Trees, Inventory, Selection Rules and Marking, regulatory procedures, legal regulations on monumental trees in Europe and the USA, and high court case law. The legal regulations on the protection, classification, identification and registration, inventory, authorised institutions and organisations, penal sanctions to be applied in case of damage to the monument and other issues in Turkish legislation are specified with their historical process. Legal regulations on monumental trees (or champion trees, large trees, exceptional trees, etc.) in European and US legislations are discussed in comparison with Turkish legislation. The decisions of the Court of Cassation, the Council of State and the Constitutional Court were evaluated by considering the legal regulations regarding monumental trees. Considering the information collected, the problems in the legal regulations and practice regarding monumental trees, especially the identification, registration and protection of monumental trees, were identified and suggestions for solving the problems were presented.