The project on “Improving International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters in Turkey” aims to strengthen the capacities of Turkish authorities to establish effective and expedited international cooperation in criminal matters, thereby contributing to proper administration of justice in cases involving foreign elements.

Through the project activities and actions, some of the key institutional, legislative and capacity building needs of Turkey’s mutual legal assistance system will be tackled, as identified in strategic and policy documents. For this purpose, the project will carry out a comprehensive set of activities, including legislative and regulatory reviews, assessments, development of software solution and capacity building and training.

The overall objective is to enhance the system and capacities of Turkish authorities to accelerate judicial proceedings and conduct effective international judicial cooperation in criminal matters. This objective is expected to be achieved through the following outcomes:

1. Ensuring that the legislative and institutional framework for international judicial cooperation in criminal matters in Turkey provides for effective international cooperation;
2. Enabling the Turkish judicial authorities to effectively cooperate with other jurisdictions in criminal matters relying on international standards and agreements and utilising networks for exchange of information.

Title of the Project: Improving International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters in Turkey

Duration: 36 months (10 December 2020 - 09 December 2023)

Budget: 3.000.000 EUR

Funding: This project is co-financed by the European Union and Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe

End Beneficiary: Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Directorate General for Foreign Relations and European Union Affairs

Lead Institution: Ministry of Justice, Directorate General for Foreign Relations and European Union Affairs

Contracting Authority: Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU)

Target Groups:

• Judges and prosecutors working on international cooperation in criminal matters at the MoJ (First Instance Courts and Courts of Appeal) including rapporteur judges;
• Judges and prosecutors working on international cooperation in criminal matters at the MoJ and the Justice Academy of Turkey (JAT);
• Lawyers from the Union of the Turkish Bar Associations.

Activities under Result 1: Legislative and institutional framework for cooperation, in particular mutual international legal assistance (MLA) is enhanced.

1.1 Review of the legislative framework on international judicial cooperation in criminal matters and support to the authorities in developing secondary legislation

1.2 Guidelines and template for MLA requests reviewed and updated in line with international standards and taking into account the PC-OC standard template

1.3 Review the institutional framework and roles of various institutions in preparing and managing requests for international judicial cooperation in criminal matters and provide recommendations to address potential gaps

Activities under Result 2: A mechanism for collecting and processing incoming & outgoing MLA requests (Central Monitoring System (CMS)), is introduced.

2.1 Establish a mechanism of electronic registration and monitoring of requests for international judicial cooperation within the MoJ

2.2: Training for responsible officials in the MoJ on maintenance and updating of the information in the CMS and other stakeholder institutions on using the system

Activities under Result 3: Capacities of the MoJ’s Central Authority and judicial authorities on international cooperation in criminal matters are increased.

3.1 Training for the Central Authority, judges and prosecutors at the regional level on preparing requests for international cooperation, aiming to address the incomplete or defective requests

3.2 Introduction of a system of filtering and quality checking of requests at the regional level before they are submitted to the Central Authority in MoJ

3.3 Development of guidelines to enhance and streamline inter-institutional cooperation and information sharing in the pre-MLA phase

3.4 Purchase of books to develop the capacity of the Central Authority.

Activities under Result 4: Cooperation and coordination capacities with international organisations and European Union member states are strengthened.

4.1 Facilitate networking and exchange of experiences between Turkish judges, prosecutors and representatives of the Central Authority with their counterparts in EU Member States

The following results are expected to be achieved through this Project:

1. Legislative and institutional framework for cooperation, in particular mutual international legal assistance (MLA) is enhanced.

2. A mechanism for collecting and processing incoming & outgoing MLA requests (Central Monitoring System (CMS)), is introduced.

3. Capacities of the MoJ’s Central Authority and judicial authorities on international cooperation in criminal matters are increased.

4. Cooperation and coordination capacities with international organisations and European Union member states are strengthened.