The Crime of Disseminating Terrorism-Related Propaganda in Turkey: An 'Exceptional' Case for the Concrete Endangerment Approach?

Basit Öğe Kaydı
dc.authorid0000-0003-0952-7741
dc.contributor.authorSevdiren, Oznur
dc.date.accessioned2026-04-04T18:55:22Z
dc.date.available2026-04-04T18:55:22Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.departmentİstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi
dc.description.abstractSince its inception in 1991, Article 7/2 of Turkey's Anti-Terrorism Law criminalising propaganda in support of terrorist organisations has undergone several changes and has been subject to differing interpretations. In 2013, the Turkish legislature significantly limited its scope in line with European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) jurisprudence. Under the current provision, only propaganda that praises, encourages, or justifies the methods used by the terrorist organisation, which 'comprise violence, force, or threat', would be penalised. This change in the law and the driving governmental policy was subsequently echoed in the case law of the Court of Cassation in Turkey. In numerous decisions, drawing from the ECHR case law, the court demanded an examination of whether the act in question had caused a 'clear and imminent danger' to public order and security. This shift and subsequently its partial abandonment, has raised significant questions on the nature of glorification, justification and apologie crimes. Notably, in a series of landmark decisions, the Turkish Constitutional Court also authoritatively affirmed that the propaganda crime must be treated as a concrete endangerment crime. By critically examining different models of endangerment crimes and their implications in law and practice in Turkey, this study argues that such a concrete endangerment approach aligns more closely with freedom of expression and the fundamental principles of criminal law. Furthermore, this study seeks to demonstrate that, despite Turkey's exceptional characteristics, the main issues and the impact of ECHR jurisprudence and case law are relevant to comparative criminal law systems, and that some tentative conclusions can be drawn for other countries.
dc.description.sponsorshipAlexander von Humboldt Foundation; Georg Forster Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers Program
dc.description.sponsorshipThis study was partly conducted during my research stay in Germany. I am deeply grateful to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for their generous support through the Georg Forster Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers Program. I also extend my sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Bettina Wei ss er, Director of the Institute of Foreign and International Criminal Law, for hosting me in Cologne, and to my home institution, Istanbul Bilgi University, for enabling this research opportunity. Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to the two anonymous referees for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this article.
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s10609-024-09493-z
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s10609-024-09493-z
dc.identifier.endpage152
dc.identifier.issn1046-8374
dc.identifier.issn1572-9850
dc.identifier.issue1
dc.identifier.scopus2-s2.0-105001551161
dc.identifier.scopusqualityQ2
dc.identifier.startpage101
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-024-09493-z
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11411/10391
dc.identifier.volume36
dc.identifier.wosWOS:001385164900001
dc.identifier.wosqualityQ2
dc.indekslendigikaynakWeb of Science
dc.indekslendigikaynakScopus
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSpringer
dc.relation.ispartofCriminal Law Forum
dc.relation.publicationcategoryMakale - Uluslararası Hakemli Dergi - Kurum Öğretim Elemanı
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.snmzKA_WoS_20260402
dc.snmzKA_Scopus_20260402
dc.subject[Keyword Not Available]
dc.titleThe Crime of Disseminating Terrorism-Related Propaganda in Turkey: An 'Exceptional' Case for the Concrete Endangerment Approach?
dc.typeArticle

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