Enforcement of territoriality principle in the crimes committed by foreign tourists in Turkey

Abstract

In Article 8 of Turkish Penal Code (TPC) No. 5237, entitled “territorial jurisdiction”, it is stated that Turkish law will be enforced to the crimes committed within the borders of Turkey. Thus, the principle of territoriality is seen to have been adopted. In this context, the principle of territoriality was first reviewed in this study. However, in order for the principle of territoriality to be enforced, it is necessary to focus on what needs to be interpreted from the country of Turkey. As a matter of fact, the country seems to have two dimensions, real and hypothetical in the field of law. In this way, after focusing on what needs to be interpreted from the country of Turkey, it is necessary to determine what should be interpreted from the “place of offence”. Although merely the principle of territoriality was not only adopted by Turkey in the enforcement of criminal laws in terms of the place of the offence, the research was limited to the principle of territoriality. In this context, the study examines how and under what circumstances Turkish laws will be enforced in the crimes committed by foreign tourists in Turkey in accordance with the principle of territoriality.