The Council of Europe is carrying out an expert review to assess the nature and level of the needs of the mediation bureaux, and to establish the training needs of the court staff working in the mediation bureaux of the selected pilot courthouses within the framework of the EU-CoE Joint Project on “Promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Turkey”. To this end, the needs analysis is being conducted by a team of local and international consultants in line with CEPEJ guidelines, taking into account the results of previous Council of Europe projects and the legal framework regarding mediation. In this context, the second and third on-site assessment visits were held on 12 January in İstanbul and on 14 January 2022 in Bursa.
The meetings were attended by approximately 20 participants for each visit, including Council of Europe consultants Rimantas Simaitis and Fatma Çağlayan Orhaner Dündar, as well as representatives of the Mediation Department of the Ministry of Justice, judges of civil court of peace, mediation bureau managers and staff, and Council of Europe project team.
Within the scope of the visits, the functioning of the mediation bureaux in courthouses and the file distribution process were discussed and the needs, obstacles, and challenges regarding the functioning of the mediation mechanism and court staff were addressed. Court staff have provided input on the needs assessment and methodology to develop a standardised training curriculum, as well as on the preliminary findings of the previous field visits.
The Joint Project on “Promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution in Turkey” is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe. The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Turkey – Directorate General for Criminals Affairs and Directorate General for Legal Affairs are the end beneficiaries of the Project. The Central Finance and Contracts Unit is the contracting authority.
