The Working Group Meeting of the activity “Assessment of the mediation system under the Regional Courts of Appeal (RCAs)” within the framework of the European Union-Council of Europe Joint Project on “Promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Turkey” was held in Ankara on 19 September 2022 with the participation of the Directorate General for Legal Affairs (DGLA) of the Ministry of Justice representatives, the Council of Europe project team, and local and international consultants.
Following the overall assessment of the project and the related activity, relevant stakeholders shared their views on the current status of mediation and the perception of mediation in Türkiye. During the meeting, international and EU best practices on a fair and effective complaint mechanism were discussed to address disputes related to mediators and the mediation management process, as well as findings from desk research, on-site visits to RCAs and qualitative/quantitative research/user satisfaction surveys.
Issues such as actions to be taken for better mediation practices in Türkiye, problems encountered in court decisions from the perspective of the judiciary, problems experienced by mediators and supervision in mediation were also discussed during the meeting. In addition, comments and recommendations were shared on the ways to be followed in developing the framework for the functioning of the mediation system, the complaint mechanism, and the Regional Mediation Assessment Boards to increase the quality of the assessment mechanism and overall mediation practices in Türkiye.
The Turkish Ministry of Justice foresees to establish a fair and effective complaint mechanism to address disputes related to mediators and the mediation management process, and thus to improve mediation practices in general. In this context, experts will prepare a comprehensive final assessment report, including the results of the conducted research analysis, which will be submitted to the Ministry of Justice for consideration and further action.
The Joint Project on “Promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) 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 Türkiye – 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.
