12punto columnist Lawyer Ozan Can Karahan reviews the Official Gazette agenda: What are the developments, item by item?

Notable developments occurred among the regulations published in the Official Gazette between September 22 and 29, 2024. Lawyer Ozan Can Karahan addressed these developments in detail and evaluated the potential future impacts of the relevant regulations.

Here is Lawyer Ozan Can Karahan's Official Gazette review:

The Digital Artist professional definition process, initiated between the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and the Vocational Qualifications Authority (MYK) in March 2024, was published in the Official Gazette last week. This professional group, which has existed for nearly 20 years, has finally gained official status in our country. This art form, which became more prominent with the increase in time spent on digital platforms and content produced during the Covid-19 pandemic, generally covers the creation of intangible digital objects where the computer plays a fundamental role in production.

Digital arts can be encountered in every area of life, including computer games, music videos, digital films, and all kinds of objects created in the digital world ready for production (materialization). So much so that world-famous art galleries have long placed digital arts in a different category as an independent art branch.

According to data from the TOBB Culture, Art, Design and Sector Committee, it is possible to say that this legislation is late but appropriate for Turkey, which ranks 6th in the world in terms of young people's interest in technology. However, due to the speed of progress of artificial intelligence technology, which makes the future uncertain in every field of life, and machine learning, it seems that there will be a need for new legal regulations regarding disputes that may arise in the near future concerning originality and copyright.

A decision rendered by the Constitutional Court following an application by a worker who was dismissed by their employer after receiving a deferment of the announcement of the verdict (HAGB) in a trial where they were accused of being affiliated with terrorist organizations has been published in the Official Gazette. In the application of the worker, who was dismissed by the employer on the grounds that the trust relationship between them had been broken, the Constitutional Court ruled that the worker's right to respect for private life had been violated.

The Court explained in its reasoning that it reached this decision because the HAGB ruling given against the worker was not a final judgment in the context of Article 38 of the Constitution, and the worker did not have the right to object to the merits of this decision at the time it was rendered, meaning there was no opportunity to challenge the content of the decision.

To avoid any misunderstanding, it should be stated that the High Court's approach to HAGB is an interpretation consistent with the law and precedent applied by the Court of Cassation and the Council of State. The HAGB anomaly was first corrected with the legal amendment No. 7445 dated 28.03.2023, as a decision that could be appealed in terms of procedure and merits. However, as a result, due to the insufficiency of the review to be conducted by a court of equal level, HAGB decisions were made subject to the appellate review process in terms of procedure and merits with a second legal amendment, No. 7499, dated 02.03.2024. In other words, there is currently no possibility for this decision of the High Court to be cited as a precedent for an event that might occur today.