The EU-Council of Europe Joint Project “Improving International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters in Türkiye” organised four training activities on international judicial cooperation in criminal matters for 80 lawyers from various local Bar Associations in Ankara between 18 and 21 November 2024. 

The activities were organised in collaboration with the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (UTBA) and aimed at raising awareness of lawyers on their roles and rights in requesting mutual legal assistance (MLA) and extradition from the judicial authorities of other countries.

While defence lawyers do not have a direct right to request information or evidence from abroad, they can access this possibility through the courts. In their capacity as defence, they also serve to protect the rights of defendants from unlawful accusations and the use of unlawfully obtained or otherwise inadmissible evidence. Therefore, the project designed a specific training programme for the lawyers including MLA and Extradition parts. Each part is designed to inform them about how MLA and Extradition requests (both incoming and outgoing) function in Türkiye and other countries, and what role a lawyer can play in these processes. The programme included specific case scenarios for MLA requests and a moot court exercise for Extradition, allowing participants to better understand the roles of lawyers, courts, and prosecutors within the system. 

The training programme and content is shared with all participants and the UTBA for further dissemination in Bar Associations in future. 

The project "Improving International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters in Türkiye" is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe”.