Duyurular

The Constitutional Court Delivers a Pilot Judgment on Excess Damages

The Constitutional Court of Türkiye (“Constitutional Court”) has delivered its judgment in the individual application Caner Şafak, application no. 2024/41763, dated 8 July 2025. The decision was published in the Official Gazette no. 33032 on 29 September 2025.  

The decision sets out the following points:

  • The applicant argues that there is no effective remedy in the legal system to compensate the loss arising from the depreciation of receivables against inflation, thereby alleging a violation of the right to property.
  • The Constitutional Court examines the application within the scope of the right to an effective remedy under Article 40 of the Constitution, in connection with the right to property under Article 35.
  • The Court finds that, in periods of high inflation, statutory and default interest rates falling below inflation produce outcomes in favour of debtors and to the detriment of creditors, which diminishes the real value of property
  • Moreover, the Court concludes that the action for excess damages does not offer a practical prospect of success in practice, since under the Court of Cassation’s case-law it is conditioned on proof of concrete loss in addition to the phenomenon of inflation.
  • As a result, the Constitutional Court determines that the legal system does not provide an effective legal avenue to compensate the damage suffered due to the devaluation of receivables caused by inflation.
  • The Court establishes that the issue has a structural nature affecting a large number of applications. Accordingly, the pilot judgment procedure is adopted, and a violation of the right to an effective remedy under Article 40, in connection with Article 35, is found.
  • For the resolution of the structural problem, the Court decides to notify the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye.
  • The examination of pending applications lodged up to the date of publication and future applications on the same matter is stayed for six months from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

You can access the full text of the decision here.

 

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

info@zumbul.av.tr


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