Upon the expiration of the term of Constitutional Court (AYM) member Muammer Topal on January 30, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed Yılmaz Akçil, the President of the 10th Chamber of the Council of State, from among three members determined by the Council of State General Assembly, as the new member of the Constitutional Court.
The decision bearing President Erdoğan's signature was published in today's issue of the Official Gazette.
The 10th Chamber of the Council of State, chaired by Akçil, had signed the decision regarding the conversion of Hagia Sophia, which was a museum, into a place of worship.
Akçil had also deemed legal and approved President Erdoğan's decision to withdraw from the İstanbul Convention, an international treaty on combating violence against women, by the Republic of Turkey.
AYM members appointed by Erdoğan
AYM President Zühtü Arslan, Vice President Hasan Tahsin Gökcan, and the members Muammer Topal, Muhammed Emin Kuz, and Engin Yıldırım were appointed during the term of President Abdullah Gül.
Vice President Kadir Özkaya and members Yıldız Seferinoğlu, Basri Bağcı, İrfan Fidan, Recai Akyel, Yusuf Şevki Hakyemez, and Selahaddin Menteş were appointed by the decision of AKP Chairperson and President Erdoğan.
AYM members Kenan Yaşar, Rıdvan Güleç, and Muhterem İnce assumed their roles through the decision of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
Who is Yılmaz Akçil
Born on August 16, 1968, in Sandıklı, Afyon, Yılmaz Akçil graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law in 1989. He completed his master's degree with a thesis titled "Suspension of Execution in Turkish Administrative Judiciary" in the Department of Public Administration at the Social Sciences Institute of Cumhuriyet University.
He served as a member of tax courts in Sivas and Mersin, a member of the Administrative Court in Erzurum, and later as the President of the Administrative Court in Erzurum, and the President of the Regional Administrative Court in Erzurum.
Elected as a member of the Council of State on February 25, 2011, Akçil served as the President of the Justice Academy of Turkey from February 27, 2014, to July 9, 2018.
On December 17, 2018, he was elected as the President of the 10th Chamber of the Council of State.
(RT/PE)
