On 2 June 2021, the second round table was held on “Key principles of the right to a fair trial applicable to administrative proceedings under Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights and substantive problems in the Turkish administrative bodies’ decision making under the aspect of the right to a fair trial” in the framework of the EU-Council of Europe Joint Project on Improving the Effectiveness of the Administrative Judiciary and Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of Council of State.
The online event was attended by over 40 participants, including judges of the Constitutional Court, of the Council of State, of the Regional Administrative Courts, of the Administrative Courts, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Justice, academics, the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe Project team.
The main objective of the round table was to create a platform for exchanging views on substantive challenges faced by the Turkish administrative bodies and administrative courts practices and formulate solutions compliant with Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
Welcome and opening remarks were made by Cristian Urse, Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Ankara, Metin Engin, Head of Department, Directorate General of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Mehmet Sadık Yamli, Judge Rapporteur, Turkish Constitutional Court and Burakhan Melikoğlu, Deputy Secretary General, Turkish Council of State. The meeting was moderated by Dr Erkan Duymaz.
Prof. Sibel Inceoğlu, presented the distinction between administrative matters and civil and criminal proceedings under the scope of Article 6(1) of the ECHR and its reflections in the case law of the Constitutional Court of Turkey. Zeynep Uçar Tagney, Senior Lawyer at the Registry of the ECtHR, highlighted the key principles of the right to a fair trial applicable to administrative proceedings under Article 6(1) of the ECHR and discussed the ECtHR’s judgements held against Turkey relevant for the administrative judiciary – uncovering systemic problems and legal shortcomings. Mehmet Sadik Yamli, Judge Rapporteur at the Turkish Constitutional Court and Seran Karatari Köstü, Judge Rapporteur at the Turkish Council of State jointly touched upon substantive problems in the Turkish administrative bodies’ decision making under the aspect of the right to a fair trial. Volkan Müftüoğlu, Seconded Judge at the Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Justice, shared information on the applications submitted before the ECtHR within the scope of Article 6(1) of the ECHR and made an overview of the execution of relevant judgements by Turkey.
The speakers and participants discussed the challenges within the national context and execution of the national case law and the ECtHR’s case law in administrative matters.
The stakeholders also discussed the benefits of a peer-to-peer platform and agreed on the establishment of a network of administrative judges to regularly circulate the relevant judgments of the ECtHR among the judiciary. The Ministry of Justice and the project team confirmed their readiness to support this initiative.
The Joint Project on “Improving the Effectiveness of the Administrative Judiciary and Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of the Council of State” is implemented by the Council of Europe, and co-funded by the European Union, the Republic of Turkey and the Council of Europe. The Turkish Ministry of Justice - Directorate General for Legal Affairs is the end beneficiary of the Project. The Central Finance and Contracts Unit is the contracting authority of this Project.
