5.  The applicant was born in 1976 and lives in Kilis.
6.  On 17 October 1999 the applicant sat an examination in order to become a civil servant. She was successful in the examination and on an unspecified date she was informed by the State Personnel Department attached to the Prime Minister’s office that she had been appointed to the post of security officer in the Kilis branch of TEDAŞ (Türkiye Elektrik Dağıtım A.Ş. – Turkish Electricity Distribution S.A.), a State-run electricity company.
7.  On an unspecified date TEDAŞ informed the applicant that she would not be appointed to the post in question as she did not fulfil the requirements of “being a man” and “having completed military service”.
8.  On 4 September 2000 the applicant lodged an action against TEDAŞ with the Gaziantep Administrative Court requesting the annulment of the decision of the Kilis Branch of TEDAŞ not to appoint her to the post in question and a stay of execution of this decision.
9.  On 9 May 2001 the Gaziantep Administrative Court ordered the stay of execution of TEDAŞ’s decision not to appoint the applicant as a security officer. The court considered that “being a male” was not a requirement for the post.
10.  On 23 July 2001 the applicant was offered a contract by the Kilis branch of TEDAŞ subject to a probationary period of six months. On an unspecified date the applicant took up her duties.
11.  On 4 October 2001 the Gaziantep Administrative Court annulled the decision of the Kilis branch of TEDAŞ. The court held that the requirement of “having completed military service” should be considered to apply only to male candidates and that there had been no restriction on women working as security officers in TEDAŞ. It further noted in that connection that since there had not been a specific requirement to recruit only male candidates for the said post, the fact that the applicant had been rejected solely on account of her sex had been unlawful.
12.  On 28 January 2002 TEDAŞ lodged an appeal against the judgment of 4 October 2001, requesting that the Supreme Administrative Court order a stay of execution of the judgment of the Gaziantep Administrative Court and subsequently quash it.
13.  On 12 April 2002 the Twelfth Division of the Supreme Administrative Court granted the stay of execution of the judgment of 4 October 2001.
14.  On 11 June 2002 TEDAŞ informed the applicant that her contract of employment had been terminated on 27 May 2002 by virtue of the Supreme Administrative Court decision of 12 April 2002.
15.  On 26 December 2002 the Twelfth Division of the Supreme Administrative Court quashed the judgment of 4 October 2001. The Supreme Administrative Court considered that given that there had been a requirement of “having completed military service”, the post had been reserved for male candidates only. The Supreme Administrative Court therefore found that the decision not to appoint the applicant to the post had been in accordance with the law.
16.  On 23 October 2003 the Gaziantep Administrative Court dismissed the applicant’s case by following the reasoning of the Supreme Administrative Court.
17.  The applicant appealed against the decision of 23 October 2003 and argued that the Supreme Administrative Court’s interpretation, namely that the post in question must have been reserved only for male candidates given that there was a requirement to complete military service, ran counter to the principle of equality and the State’s positive obligation to ensure non‑discrimination between men and women. In support of her arguments, the applicant maintained that this obligation was set out not only in Article 10 of the Constitution but also in Article 2 § d of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women as well as Article 3 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. She further argued that it was of no importance to dwell on whether the post in question had been reserved for male candidates only, since such a reservation itself would be contrary to the prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex in access to employment as set out in the relevant international instruments and European Union regulations. On 16 November 2017 the Twelfth Division of the Supreme Administrative Court unanimously upheld the decision of 23 October 2003, without replying to the arguments of the applicant.
18.  On 6 December 2007 the Supreme Administrative Court’s General Assembly of Administrative Proceedings Divisions (Danıştay İdari Dava Daireleri Genel Kurulu), the composition of which included some members of the Twelfth Division, delivered a decision in favour of R.B., who, like the applicant had been a female candidate for TEDAŞ whose application to be appointed to the post of security officer had been rejected by TEDAŞ on account of not fulfilling the requirements of “being a male” and “having completed military service”. The General Assembly held that the requirement of “having completed military service” should be considered to apply only to male candidates. It found, however, that it was unlawful to refuse to appoint R.B. on that ground.
19.  On an unspecified date, the applicant applied for rectification of the decision of 16 November 2007, and maintained the arguments she had submitted during appeal (see paragraph 17 above). Relying on the right to a fair hearing, she argued that her submissions concerning the prohibition of discrimination were also supported by the findings of the Supreme Administrative Court’s General Assembly of Administrative Proceedings Divisions in its decision concerning the case of R.B.; she therefore requested the Supreme Administrative Court to rectify its decision of 16 November 2007.
20.  In the rectification proceedings the judge rapporteur of the Twelfth Division submitted his written opinion on the merits of the case and argued, inter alia, that the decision of 16 November 2007 should be rectified in the light of the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court’s General Assembly of Administrative Proceedings Divisions of 6 December 2007 in the case of R.B. He also noted in that connection that Turkey had ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and that pursuant to its Article 11, the State was bound to take all appropriate measures to ensure, inter alia, the right to the same employment opportunities on a basis of equality of men and women, including the application of the same criteria for selection in matters of employment.
21.  On 24 June 2009 the Twelfth Division of the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the applicant’s application for the rectification of its previous decision, holding that none of the reasons put forth by the applicant for rectification fell within the exhaustive list of permissible grounds for rectification indicated in section 54 (1) of the Administrative Procedure Act (Law no. 2577) and that its previous decision was in accordance with law and procedure. Therefore the Gaziantep Administrative Court’s decision of 23 October 2003 became final.