The fourth and the last webinar on ‘Enhancing the Role of the Ombudsman’ was held on 21 June 2021, with the participation of Şeref Malkoç, the Chief Ombud of Turkey, İbrahim Kılınç, General Secretary of the Ombudsman Institution, Hakan Öztatar, Director General of the DG for Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Justice, Cristian Urse, Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Ankara along with the participants from the Ombudsman Institution, the Ministry of Justice, and the Council of Europe Project team. The event concluded the discussion and exchange of opinions on the recommendations made by the Council of Europe Consultants, Dr Nicholas O’Brien, Marek A. Nowicki and Dr Naomi Creutzfeldt.
The event provided the opportunity to consider and discuss the Final Report A Comparative Review on Ombuds: Recommendations of Action for the Turkish Ombudsman and Guidelines for the Ombudsman and Public Authorities, which aims at strengthening the role of the institution. The action plan of the Ombudsman Institution for the implementation of the proposed recommendations and the guidelines were also voiced. To this end, the action plan of the Institution includes initiatives to improve the implementation and wider dissemination of the good governance principles, such as training of civil servants; enhancement of the legal basis for mediation between parties and compliance with the recommendations; awarding system for the compliant authorities in the Parliament; introduction of the ex officio investigation, legal expert opinion and intervention in judicial proceedings discretion for the Institution.
The participants underlined the importance of the recommendations provided and of the Project, whereby the Council of Europe team and the Ministry of Justice reiterated that co-operation would continue with the Ombudsman Institution including by supporting the implementation of the recommendations of the Report.
The Final Report will be available and published in July 2021.
The Joint Project on Improving the Effectiveness of the Administrative Judiciary and Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of the Council of State is co-funded by the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Republic of Turkey, and implemented by 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
