The Preparatory Workshop on “Improving the Unification of Case Law” was held with international participation on 17-18 March 2022 in the İsmail Rüştü Cirit Conference Hall of the Court of Cassation under the Joint Project on “Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of Court of Cassation”. In the two-day workshop, the duties and responsibilities of courts of appeal in ensuring case law unity based on the model of the Court of Cassation were addressed.
In his opening remarks, Mehmet Akarca, President of the Court of Cassation, stated that the results of the workshop would offer concrete solutions on how to structure regional and national case law fora, and would be a valuable source of motivation for the efforts of the Court of Cassation to ensure case law unity. In his opening speech, Cristian Urse, Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Ankara, emphasised that the case law consistency and uniform application of the law was essential for the principle of equality before the law.
On the second day of the workshop, the sessions were moderated by Eyup Yeşil, First Vice President and Head of the General Assembly of Criminal Chambers, and Adem Albayrak, First Vice President and Head of the General Assembly of Civil Chambers of the Court of Cassation. Speakers who contributed to these sessions with their presentations included Selahaddin Menteş, Member of the Turkish Constitutional Court, Hikmet Onat, President of the 7th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, Osman Atalay, President of the 1st Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, Ali Bozkaya, Lawyer from the European Court of Human Rights, Assoc. Prof. Ali Ersoy Kontacı, Council of Europe Consultant and Faculty Member at the Faculty of Law of Ankara University, and Vanessa Untiedt, Council of Europe Consultant and Legal Advisor from the Ministry of Justice of Spain.
Approximately 120 participants, including chamber presidents, bench members, rapporteur judges and public prosecutors of the Turkish Court of Cassation, attended and contributed to the workshop. This project activity helped to produce concrete solutions and recommendations on case law consistency, specific to civil chambers and criminal chambers.
The Joint Project on “Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of Court of Cassation” is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and the Court of Cassation of Turkey is the end beneficiary of the Project.
