The determination of reasons of environmental pollution that require the impose of administrative sanctions in light of the Turkish Council of State decisions

Environmental administrative sanctions are a means of precautions aiming for the protection of the environment, reduction of environmental damages, nonrepeation of acts causing the damage of the environment. The mentioned actions of the administration shall be concluded in accordance with principles of rule of law, legality, legal certainty. It is important to a great extent to demonstrate the legality of the sanctions and measures when applied subsequently for judicial remedy, during which in the process of application of such sanctions, documentation of the contaminative activities and reveal of activities transparently with its justification had been realized. In the Environment Law numbered 2872, the procedures and principles are determined, which must be obeyed by the officer in charge assigned by the central or provincial organization of the Ministry or by the competent authority of state institutions and organizations authorized by the Ministry for the environmental supervision for detection of violations, which require the impose of administrative sanctions. It is important to consider some factors for the establishment of the process to be applied against any environmental violation by the administrative institutions that have duties and powers in the field of protection of the environment, such as the investigations to be carried out in order to clearly reveal the source of the polluting activity, the means that can be used in determining the violation, the conditions to regard real or legal persons to be responsible for polluting activity, which abolishes the hesitations relevant to the source of pollution. When the decisions of the Council of State are examined, in some of the decisions it is noteworthy that the problems related to the determination of the violation are mentioned and some of the sanctions established by the administration according to the procedure stated in the legislation are cancelled. In this study, a discussion will be made on the decisions of the Council of State and the reasons of the administration and an emphasis will be given to the problems in implementation and legislation. Recommendations will be put forward for the procedures and principles to be more specific in accordance with the principle of legality and to strengthen the lawfulness of the sanctions, which are followed in the areas where inspection may be carried out by the environmental inspection teams and where sea, land, air and other environmental damages may arise.