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THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE

Case Summaries

About the Removal of Age Limit, a Barrier in Issuing a Student Commutation Card
in Public Transport
The applicant stated that although there was no age limit in the Law no. 2547 on
Higher Education and other relative regulations for being a student, Bursa Metropolitan
Municipality placed a restriction on age with its Implementing Regulation of
Commutation Tickets in Public Transport Vehicles and that he was a Ph.D. student in
Dokuz Eylül University, who was born in 1981 and a student commutation card was
not issued for his party due to the aforementioned regulation of Bursa Metropolitan
Municipality. The applicant expressed that placing an age restriction on student
commutation cards was unlawful, that in Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, such an
age-relevant requirement was not sought for low rate student commutation cards and
the same went for İzmir considering the By-Law on Customised Commutation Cards
of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, and requested the annulment of the age limit
in issuing student commutation cards set forth in the Implementing Regulation of
Commutation Tickets in Public Transport Vehicles of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality.

As a result of the examination and investigation conducted, it was evaluated that the
definition of “student” differed according to municipalities and in general there was
not an age limit for higher education students; in addition, the administration had
discretionary powers in determining the criteria for applying reductions; however, these
powers were not limitless neither absolute and should be used in line with the public
service requirements and for public interest; in this concrete event, “30 years” limit
was placed for Ph.D. students by the administration. In the letter submitted to our
Institution as a response, the administration did not justify the grounds for exercising its
discretionary power although the exercise of the discretionary power must be justifiable
and it was evaluated that the implementation of age criterium by the administration
was not in accordance with the public service requirements.

20
Within this scope, it was concluded that a Recommendation should be submitted to
Bursa Metropolitan Municipality about taking relative actions to remove the age limit in
the definition of student laid down in the Implementing Regulation of Commutation
Tickets in Public Transport Vehicles of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality.

About the Request for Taking Necessary Measures for Stray Dogs

The applicants requested taking necessary measures for dangerous stray dogs, collection
and transfer of stray dogs to animal shelters by competent authorities, and killing the
dogs that pose a threat to human life if deemed necessary and drafting legislation that
would allow the streets to be cleared of stray dogs in a similar way to the practices in
modern countries

20 Recommendation dated 06/09/2019 on the application no. 2019/6610

2019 ANNUAL REPORT 95