Protection of Persons With Disabilities in Turkish Law

Abstract

IThe rights of disabled persons from a perspective of private law; whether they can assert and enjoy any rights or special treatment under the civil law and before the civil courts have never been evaluated in the Turkish doctrine. In this study, we tried to take civil court practice as our center point and focused on private law legislation which frequently constitute subject of case-law. Consequently, we have dealt with certain rights of the disabled people provided in the CRPD; i.e., equal recognition before the law; access to justice; respect for home and the family; work and employment, which may have private law aspects and inquired whether the law and its practice is in concord with the CRPD. Additionally, equality and non-discrimination have been subject to a number of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decisions where the applicants are Turkish citizens with disabilites. We have, therefore, devoted a section in this study, to these decisions and their impact on the recent Turkish Constitutional Court decisions rendered concerning applicants in similar circumstances. © 2022 Ibero-American Law Institute. All rights reserved.