Founder & Counsel

Dr. Emre Turkut

PhD, LLM, CIPP/E

Dr. Emre Turkut is an international law scholar and legal consultant. He founded Turkut Legal to provide cross-border strategic counsel at the intersection of Turkish, German, European and international law — advising individuals, businesses and institutions on applications, disputes, transactions and expert opinions.

Dr. Turkut holds a Ph.D. in Law from Ghent University, Belgium, an LL.M. in Public International Law from the University of Kent, UK, and an LL.B. from Ankara University, Turkey.

Before founding Turkut Legal, he held academic and research posts at Ghent University, the Hertie School (Centre for Fundamental Rights), the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, the European Court of Human Rights, Anglo-American University in Prague, and Uppsala University.

Throughout his academic career, he has specialised in public international law, international human rights law, and comparative constitutional law.

As a legal consultant, he regularly prepares expert opinions and advises private clients on migration and business immigration, human rights litigation, public international law, Turkish private and public law, and cross-border regulatory questions. In that capacity he has rendered expert opinions and prepared affidavits on Turkish and international law for proceedings in the United States, the United Kingdom, and several EU countries, including Belgium and Germany.

He has substantial experience with individual applications and complaints before the European Court of Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Committee Against Torture and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, as well as applications to the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files (CCF).

He is a certified Data Protection Officer, Data Protection Auditor and Compliance Officer (TÜV Rheinland / PersCert TÜV), a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E, IAPP), and holds an additional certification in cyber-security (ISC2 CC).

Languages: Turkish (native), English (fluent), German (C1), Italian (pre-intermediate), French (pre-intermediate)

Certificates

Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E) — IAPP
Data Protection Auditor — TÜV Rheinland Certified Qualification (PersCert TÜV)
Data Protection Officer — TÜV Rheinland Certified Qualification (PersCert TÜV)
Certified in Cyber-Security (CC) — ISC2
Compliance Officer — TÜV Rheinland Certified Qualification (PersCert TÜV)

Academic Articles

2023. “Endogenous Sources of Pandemic Governance: Executive Power and Lockdown Measures in Turkey, the United Kingdom and Germany” — Re:Constitution Working Paper, Forum Transregionale Studien, 20/2023
2022. “Emergency Powers, Constitutional (Self-)Restraint and Judicial Politics: The Turkish Constitutional Court during the COVID-19 Pandemic” — Jus Cogens, pp. 263–284
2022. “The Turkish post-coup emergency and European responses: shortcomings in the European system revisited” — European Yearbook of Human Rights, Intersentia, pp. 445–482
2021. “The Venice Commission and Rule of Law Backsliding in Turkey, Hungary and Poland” — The ECHR Law Review 2(2), pp. 209–240
2020. “The 'Reasonable Suspicion' Test of Turkey's Post-Coup Emergency Rule under the ECHR” — Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 38(4), pp. 264–282 (with Sabina Garahan)
2020. “Osman Kavala v Turkey: unravelling the Matryoshka dolls” — European Human Rights Law Review 18(3), pp. 288–297
2019. “Accommodating security imperatives v. protecting fundamental rights: The challenge of states of emergency in the context of countering terrorism in Turkey” — Security & Human Rights 28(1-4), pp. 1–33
2018. “Turkey's post-coup 'purification process': collective dismissals of the public servants under the European Convention on Human Rights” — Human Rights Law Review 18(3), pp. 539–565 (with Tom Ruys)
2017. “International Law in the Turkish Legal Order: Transnational Judicial Dialogue and the Turkish Constitutional Court” — Italian Yearbook of International Law 26(1), pp. 41–62 (with Ikboljon Qoraboyev)

Book Chapters

2025. “Turkey's Political Expansionism and the Geopolitics of Extraterritoriality” — in L. Leontiev & M. Gonzalez (eds.), National Approaches to Extraterritoriality (Routledge, 2025), pp. 133–151
2022. “Turkey: Pandemic Governance and Executive Aggrandisement” — in J. Grogan & A. Donald (eds.), The Routledge Handbook on Law and the COVID-19 Pandemic (Routledge), pp. 248–259
2021. “Non-discrimination, minority rights and self-determination: Turkey's post-coup state of emergency and the position of Turkey's Kurds” — in H. Aydin & W. Langley (eds.), Human Rights in Turkey: Assaults on Human Dignity (Springer), pp. 109–129 (with Thomas Phillips)
2020. “Chapter 18: Turkey” — in F. M. Palombino (ed.), Duelling for Supremacy: International Law vs. National Fundamental Principles (Cambridge University Press), pp. 336–354 (with Ikboljon Qoraboyev)

Expert Reports

2024. “Observations on Yasak v. Türkiye” — published by Assedel, with Stango, Russell, Sahin, Gokce, Yesil, Polak, Gutierrez, Yildiz and Kaplankaya
2024. “ByLock Prosecutions and the Right to Fair Trial in Turkey: The ECtHR Grand Chamber's Ruling in Yüksel Yalçınkaya v. Türkiye” — published by Statewatch, with Ali Yildiz
2023. “Perils of Unconstrained Prosecutorial Discretion: Prosecuting Terrorism Offences in Post-Coup Turkey” — published by the Italian Federation for Human Rights, with Ali Yildiz and Kevin Dent
2021. “Algorithmic persecution in Turkey's post-coup crackdown: The FETÖ-Meter system” — published by Statewatch, with Ali Yildiz — cited by the European Data Protection Board, the Deutscher Bundestag and the UK Home Office
2020. “Impunity in Turkey Today” — Turkey Tribunal, with Yves Haeck

Academic Commentary & Opinion Pieces

2026. “European Court Judgment Spotlights Turkey's Weaponisation of Terrorism Laws” — Balkan Insight, 7 May 2026
2023. “The Individual Application Mechanism is on the Verge of Collapse, and so is Turkish Constitutionalism” — Verfassungsblog, 23 Nov 2023, with Ali Yildiz
2023. “Repression Beyond Borders: Turkey's 'Night and Fog' Regime” — Turkey Human Rights Blog, 10 Nov 2023
2023. “'Article 7' Shockwaves, ByLock and Beyond: Unpacking the Grand Chamber's Yalçınkaya Judgment” — Strasbourg Observers, 13 Oct 2023
2022. “On 9/11 and three natures of a permanent state of emergency” — Verfassungsblog, 9 May 2022
2021. “Year One: Reflections on Turkey's Legal Responses to COVID-19 Pandemic” — Verfassungsblog, 16 Mar 2021, with Başak Çalı
2020. “Citizenship-Stripping as a Political Tool: A Comparative Perspective” — Kennedy School Review, 27 Apr 2020
2020. “Before it Spreads 'Like Wildfire': Prisoners' Rights in the Time of COVID-19” — Verfassungsblog, 1 Apr 2020, with Ali Yildiz
2019. “Osman Kavala v. Turkey: unravelling the Matryoshka dolls” — Strasbourg Observers, 12 Dec 2019
2019. “Post-Coup State of Emergency, Turkish Presidentialism and the Uncertain Future of Turkish Democracy” — KAOS GL, vol. 166, May–June 2019
2019. “The discovery in flagrante delicto, the Kafkaesque fate of a Supreme judge and the Turkish Constitutional Court: The Alparslan Altan case in Strasbourg” — Strasbourg Observers, 6 May 2019
2017. “The Köksal case before the Strasbourg Court: a pattern of violations or a mere aberration?” — Strasbourg Observers, 2 Aug 2017
2016. “Has the European Court of Human Rights Turned a Blind Eye to Alleged Rights Abuses in Turkey?” — EJIL: Talk!, 28 Dec 2016
2016. “The curious case of a Turkish judiciary in a state of emergency” — Open Democracy, 16 Nov 2016
2016. “Turkey's Mosul dream: showing up uninvited to a party or having prepared its seat well in advance?” — Open Democracy, 22 Oct 2016

Media Appearances

2026. “ECtHR's Osman Kavala Decision” — video interview, KHK TV (Turkish), 18 Jan 2026
2026. “What do the latest ECtHR decisions mean and bring?” — video interview on the ECtHR's I.C. decision, KHK TV (Turkish), 18 Jan 2026
2025. “Will the 11th execution package include those dismissed by emergency decrees?” — video interview, KHK TV (Turkish), 27 Nov 2025
2025. “European judges fault Turkey for using prison to silence Kurdish voice, not curb terrorism” — Courthouse News, 14 Oct 2025
2024. “UEFA's Demiral Decision” — video interview, Bi Dünya Havadis YouTube channel, 11 Jul 2024
2024. “The rights violations resulting from the non-implementation of the ECHR's Yalçınkaya decision have been documented in a report” — Velev, 13 Mar 2024
2023. “Outside Pressure Key to Turkish Compliance with European Court Ruling” — Balkan Insight, 11 Oct 2023
2023. “Strasbourg Ruling a Test for Thousands of Post-Coup Cases in Turkey” — Balkan Insight, 26 Sep 2023
2023. “Beweise vom Geheimdienst serviert: Experte sieht Missstände in türkischen Gerichtsverfahren” — in German, Kronos, 10 Aug 2023
2023. “Verfolgung von Gülen-Anhängern: Bericht offenbart massive Justiz-Mängel” — in German, DTJ Online, 2 Aug 2023
2023. “'Arbitrary Persecution': How Turkey Uses Vague Terror Law to Jail its Critics” — Balkan Insight, 13 Jul 2023
2023. “CoE: Turkey Using Sweden's NATO Membership Bid To Extend Repression” — Balkan Insight, 23 Jun 2023
2023. “Emocjonujący zwrot w Turcji! Erdoğan traci 5 punktów proc. wobec Kılıçdaroğlu” — in Polish, OKO.press, 12 May 2023
2021. “Föräldrar till barn med Downs syndrom riskerar sparken i Turkiet” — in Swedish, Arbetet, 30 Nov 2021
2021. “Turecká armáda používala algoritmy při čistkách od vládních odpůrců” — in Czech, CT24, 27 Nov 2021
2021. “Türkei suchte nach mutmaßlichen Putschisten mit Algorithmus” — in German, Netzpolitik, 26 Nov 2021
2021. “Turkey Turns Screws on North Macedonia over Alleged 'Gulenists'” — Balkan Insight, 5 Aug 2021
2021. “Post-Coup Asset Seizures in Turkey Worth Billions, Legality Questioned” — Balkan Insight, 22 Apr 2021
2021. “Turkey's Exit from Women's Rights Treaty Could Embolden Populists” — Balkan Insight, 24 Mar 2021
2021. “BIRN Fact-Check: How Easily Can Turkey Close its Pro-Kurdish Party?” — Balkan Insight, 17 Feb 2021
2021. “#Rights-Talk – Episode 2 on Impunity in Turkey” — video interview, OthersTV, 19 Jan 2021
2020. “The ECtHR's priority policy is failing Turkey's human rights victims” — Ahval News, 25 Nov 2020
2020. “AKP may seek early elections in bid for Erdoğan's third presidential term” — Ahval News, 10 Oct 2020
2020. “BIRN Fact-check: Can Turkey's Erdogan Run for President Again?” — Balkan Insight, 21 Sep 2020
2020. “Global Focus on Police Brutality Strikes Chord in Southeast Europe” — Balkan Insight, 12 Jun 2020
2020. “Filantroop Kavala: na gejuich toch weer de gevangenis in” — in Dutch, NRC, 20 Feb 2020
2020. “Sparking Rage, Turkey Rearrests Acquitted Activist” — Courthouse News Service, 19 Feb 2020
2019. “Istanbul Re-Run Seen as Test of Turkey's Democracy” — Balkan Insight, 24 May 2019
2018. “More than 100,000 Turks who lost jobs after 2016 coup attempt await rulings” — The Globe and Mail, 2 Jan 2018

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