The freedom of speech in Turkish Constitutional Judiciary and the comparison of the judgements of the Turkish Judiciary with those of the European Court of Human Rights

KILDAN, İsmail Turgut. The Freedom of Speech in Turkish Constitutional Judiciary and The Comparison of the Judgements of the Turkish Judiciary with those of the European Court of Human Rights, Postgraduate Thesis , Ankara, 2008.The aim of the thesis is to determine the Freedom of Speech in Turkey in general and the freedom of speech and its restrictions in line with the article 10 of European Convention on Human Rights in particular, to compare the judgements of the Turkish Judiciary and those of the European Court of Human Rights on the freedom of speech, and to determine the causes the feedom of speech violations under discussion in European Court of Human Rights with regard to Turkey.The study is arranged in three main parts. The first part covers the arrangement of the freedom of speech in the international human rights documents; the historical progress of the freedom of speech in Turkish Constititunal Judiciary; the restrictions on the freedom of speech according to the Constitution Act, 1982, and the limitations of these restrictions; and the article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code.The second part involves the content and the elements of the freedom of speech under article 10 of European Convention on Human Rights, and besides deals with the restrictions on the freedom of speech in the Convention.In the third part of the study, the judgements of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court on the freedom of speech and the resolutions of the European Court of Human Rights for the allegations of the freedom of speech violations in Turkey are both examined and compared; besides, the differences between the judgements of the Turkish Judiciary and European Court of Human Rights are identified and solutions are presented.Finally, the importance of the freedom of speech is emphasized, and the conditions on which the freedom of speech shall be restricted are discussed in detail. It has been concluded that in order for a restriction on the freedom of speech to be regarded as legal by the European Convention on Human Rights, the restriction must be based on one of the conditions stated in article 10/2 of the Convention, and be necessary for the democratic society, have a legitimate purpose, and be envisaged by the law.Key Words:1. Freedom of speech2. Human Rights3. European Convention on Human Rights4. European Court of Human Rights