The kick-off meeting of the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Project on “Improving International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters in Turkey” was held online on 29 March 2021. The project aims to enhance the overall system and capacities of Turkish authorities to accelerate judicial proceedings and conduct effective international judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

The objective of the kick-off meeting was to present the project in detail and to share the overall activity plan during the project cycle. Representatives of the Directorate General for Foreign Relations and EU Affairs of the Ministry of Justice, the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey, and the Central Finance and Contracts Unit attended the meeting.

During the opening remarks, the participants welcomed the commencement of the project and reiterated their strong commitment to cooperation. It was discussed that pursuant to its overall objective, the project will focus on legislative and institutional framework for effective international co-operation, as well as on exchange of information with judicial authorities in other jurisdictions and via international cooperation networks. Judges and prosecutors working on international cooperation in criminal matters at the Ministry of Justice, including rapporteur judges and prosecutors working on international cooperation in criminal matters and the Justice Academy of Turkey lawyers from the Union of the Turkish Bar Associations will benefit from the project’s actions.

With a total budget of 3 million EUR and a duration of 36 months, this joint project will be implemented by the Economic Crime and Cooperation Division of the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, the Directorate General for Criminal Affairs (DGCA) and the Directorate General for Legal Affairs (DGLA) as the final beneficiaries and the Directorate General for Foreign Relations and EU Affairs of the Ministry of Justice as the lead institution.