PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Joint European Union and Council of Europe Programme on “Enhancing the Role of the Supreme Judicial Authorities in Respect of European Standards” (Project) was initiated to enhance the commitment level of the Turkish supreme judicial authorities to the European Union (EU) accession criteria by raising the awareness on human rights protection standards of the leading judicial actors and establishing stronger relations with the EU judicial institutions and with its member states’ with a view of benefiting from their experience in the harmonisation of legislation and judicial practices.

The Project succeeded in general terms to deliver all outputs, by saying this, the important role of the partner institutions must be highlighted for cooperative efforts during the whole period of implementation. The ownership of the project and commitment to achieve tangible results was seen on behalf of all actors involved in the Project’s activities from the start until the end thus ensuring the praiseworthy results.

The referendum held in September 2010 and the legislative amendments following it have changed the structure and organisation of the partner institutions. For these reasons, additional activities, such as study visits, placements, conferences and round tables for the new members, reporter judges and inspectors were included into the Project gradually with three Addenda, including a new component to support the Constitutional Court (CC) in establishing a system for the review of individual complaints. The intense work plan of the Project allowed to organise the study visits for more than 500 hundred judges and prosecutors, 16 conferences on various topics and 10 round tables in addition to placements of 42 judges and reporter judges into various European institutions, including the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Project Information

Total Duration of the Project

46 months, from 8 January 2010 to 31 October 2013.

Total Budget

The total cost of the project was € 4 014 000,00 which was funded by the European Union (€3 700 000), Turkish Authorities (€214 000) and the Council of Europe (€100 000).

Partners

The project was implemented by the Ankara Programme Office of the Council of Europe under the coordination of the Court of Cassation (CoC) of Turkey.

Constitutional Court of Turkey (TCC), Council of State (CSt) and the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HCJP) were the other beneficiaries.

 

Project Activities

Actvities

  1. 10 Round table (RT) seminars on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Social Charter (ESC): 

  • 5 for the participation of all beneficiaries and,

  • 5 for the CC judges and reporters.

  1. Study visits (SV) to EU and CoE institutions for 505 persons from the Beneficiaries :

    • 4 SVs for 60 participants to the EU institutions (1 visit for each beneficiary)

    • 2 SVs for 40 persons for the HCJP

    • 4 SVs for 80 persons for the CSt

    • 11 SVs for 220 persons for the CoC

    • 6 SVs for 105 persons for the CC

      • 3 SVs to the ECtHR for a total of 60 persons

      • 2 SVs to German and Spanish constitutional courts for 40 persons

      • 1 SV for 5 persons of the IT staff of the CC and National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP)

  2. Conferences in Turkey. 16 conferences in total:
  3. Placement of 42 reporter judges from the partner institutions:

  • 3 for the CC;

  • 4 for the CoC;

  • 4 for the CSt;

  • 2 for the HCJP and

  • Opening and closing conferences.

  1. Placement of 22 reporter judges at the CoE and other European institutions for 1 month:

    • 8 from the CoC;

    • 8 from the CSt;

    • 6 from the HCJP

  2. Placement of 20 reporter judges at the ECtHR for six months

    • 6 from the CC;

    • 5 from the CoC;

    • 5 from the CSt;

    • 4 from the HCJP

  3. 13 RT seminars for the judge rapporteurs of the TCC

  4. Creation of a website and publication of leaflets for the IA system

  5. Creation of a project website to inform all legal professionals and public on the outcomes of the project

  6. Two public opinion polls conducted with legal professional on the right to Individual Application before the TCC.

 

Project Results

Results

Result 1. The awareness of the members of the partner institutions was raised on the EU institutions, their decision making processes and the acquis, as well as on the implications of Article 90 of the Turkish Constitution, the ECHR, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the execution of the ECtHR’s judgments, and the ESC.

Result 2. Co-operation of the HCJP and of the Higher Courts (CC, CoC and CSt) as superior judicial authorities with equivalent European institutions was promoted.

Result 3. Ability of the CC to apply the ECHR within the constitutional review process, especially in the case of individual applications was promoted.

Result 4. Public awareness of the Turkish judiciary system (including the referendum and the introduction of individual applications) was increased.