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Homepage > Our Priority Areas > The Law and Women's Human Rights in Turkey > The Civil Code


The Civil Code
The new Civil Code (No. 4721), which puts an end to the supremacy of men in marriage, was ratified by the Turkish Parliament on November 22, 2001, bringing to fruition fifty years of struggle to change the Civil Code (No. 743) enacted seventy-five years earlier, in 1926. In 2000-2001, the women’s movement carried out intense efforts for the alteration of this law. Through conferences, media and fax campaigns, visits to Parliament, declarations, reports and one-on-one meetings, 126 women’s groups organized a collective effort that resulted in the new Civil Code, which, except for a few shortcomings, institutes fundamental positive changes regarding the domestic status of women.

The revised Civil Code adopts a new approach towards the family and towards a woman’s role within the family. The 1926 law was based on the Swiss Civil Code of the time and assigned women a legislatively subordinate position in the family with rights and duties defined in respect to the husband. The new Civil Code defines the family as a partnership based on equality between men and women. The equal domestic rights of spouses have been secured in the Constitution with the addition of the phrase “[the family is]... based on equality of the spouses” in Article No. 41. This new concept is also reflected in the language of the new Code. The terms ‘wife’ and ‘husband’ are replaced by ‘spouses’. The language of the Civil Code has also been simplified considerably, making the law accessible for a wider group of people.

Below are some of the changes that reflect the new approach:

  • The husband is no longer the head of the family; spouses govern the family union as equal partners with equal decision-making powers
  • Spouses have equal rights over the family residence
  • Spouses have equal rights over property acquired in the course of the marriage
  • Spouses have equal rights of representation
  • The concept of ‘illegitimate’ children has been abolished; mothers now have custody of children born out of wedlock.

    Related documents

  • The New Legal Status of Women in Turkey