Assessing the Right of a Woman to Give Her Surname to a Child Born Out of Marriage in the Light of an Individual Application

Abstract

The subject of this study is the right of a woman to give her own surname to her child born outside the union of marriage. In line with the distinction in the Turkish Civil Code between the child born within the union of marriage and the child born outside the union of marriage, and the Constitutional Court's decision on this issue, the study has been specialised on the right of the woman to give her surname to the child born outside the union of marriage, and the individual application decisions have been selected in the examination of the decisions on this issue since it is a current field. The study started by analysing the legislation in the domestic law within the scope of the regulation of the surname of the child and the current court decisions on this issue. In the second part of the study, the application made to the Constitutional Court regarding the regulation of the surname of the child born within the marriage union and whose custody right is held by the mother after the divorce and the decision of the Constitutional Court within this scope are evaluated. In the last part of the article, within the scope of the regulation of the surname of the child born outside the union of marriage, the individual application made by the mother to the Constitutional Court to give her surname to her child and the examination of the Constitutional Court within the scope of the violations of rights claimed in the application are discussed in detail. In the conclusion part, in the light of all this information, evaluations and recommendations regarding the surname of the child are given.