The Crime and Punishment of Preventing the Exercise of the Right to Petition is regulated under Article 121 of the TPC. In order for the prevention of the exercise of the right to petition to constitute a crime, it must be committed by a public official, which shows that the crime is a specific crime.
It should be noted that the right to petition is a right recognized in the Constitution. Therefore, unlawful obstruction of the right to petition constitutes the crime of TCK 121.
For the crime of obstruction of the right to petition, the petition submitted by the person to the competent public authority in order to exercise a certain right must not be accepted unlawfully. In the case of timed works or transactions, although the petition is submitted in due time, if the acceptance and approval of the petition is delayed, the crime of obstruction of the right to petition is also in question.
The fact that the application made only verbally is not accepted will not cause the crime of obstruction of the use of the right to petition to occur. In order for this crime to occur, the application must be made in writing and this petition must not be accepted unlawfully.
If the petition is rejected for lawful reasons or if it is not taken into consideration if it is given to an unauthorized unit, the crime of obstruction of the right to petition will not occur.
If the petition submitted by the person to the competent public authorities to exercise a certain right is not accepted without a legal reason, the person who commits the crime is sentenced to imprisonment for up to 6 months. This offense will not occur if it occurs in the private sector.