Sultanahmet Courthouse on İmran Öktem Avenue on the way to Sultanahmet Square was used as the “Judiciary Center of Istanbul” between 1955 and 2012. The building which burned in a fire in 1939, was reconstructed by Sedat Hakkı Eldem and Professor Emin Halid Onat in 1955. When the judiciary was moved to a new building in the Çağlayan district in 2012, the Istanbul Directorate of National Education began to use the old building.

Sultanahmet Courthouse was the site of frequent confrontations between the revolutionary and ultranationalist students in the years around 1968. The judiciary hall once again became a stage for revolutionary vs ultra nationalist clashes during trials between 1974 and 1978. When martial law was declared in Istanbul and many other cities in Turkey, the trials were held by military courts from December 26, 1978, until the termination of martial law in Istanbul on November 19, 1985. With the military coup of September 12, 1980, another martial law was declared that would last for years.