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 who will determine the assessment method in line with CEPEJ guidelines, taking into account the results of the previous project and the legal framework regarding mediation.
In this context, the first on-site assessment visit and meeting was held on 13-14 December 2021 in Ankara.
On the first day of the visit, the Ankara Courthouse and Ankara Batı Courthouse were visited and the needs of mediation bureaux were discussed with the participation of Ministry of Justice representatives, international and local consultants, as well as the Council of Europe staff. On the second day of the event, a visit was paid to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Turkey. The representatives of the Mediation Department, the Directorate General for Information Technologies, the Training Department and the Directorate General for Foreign Relations and EU Affairs gathered, and the training needs of the mediation bureau staff were discussed.
Within the scope of the visits, the functioning of the mediation bureaux in the Courthouses and the file distribution process were discussed and the needs, obstacles and deficiencies regarding the functioning of the mediation mechanism and court staff were addressed. In addition, the representatives of the Ministry of Justice provided information on file management and the UYAP (National Judiciary Informatics System), and discussions were held on the preliminary findings regarding the training needs of the court staff.
The meetings were held with the attendance of approximately 40 participants for each visit, including the international consultants of the Council of Europe, Rimantas Simaitis and Ivana Goranic, local consultant, Fatma Çağlayan Orhaner Dündar, as well as the representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Mediation Department, the Directorate General for Information Technologies, the Training Department, the Directorate General for Foreign Relations and EU Affairs, judges of civil court of peace, mediation bureau managers and staff, and the Council of Europe project team.
On-site visits and meetings shall assist consultants in determining the needs of mediation bureaux and developing training curricula and materials in line with their training needs. Consultants will prepare a needs analysis draft report based on the findings acquired from the desk research and on-site 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.
