The European Union and the Council of Europe Joint Project on “Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of Court of Cassation”, implemented with the Council of Europe and the Court of Cassation of Türkiye came to a successful end after a 54-month implementation period. The closing conference of the project took place in Ankara on 18 July 2023.

William Massolin, Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Ankara, Barbaros Köse, Acting Director of the Central Finance and Contracts Unit, Eleftheria Pertzinidou, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Türkiye, and Mehmet Akarca, First President of the Court of Cassation each made an address during the event. 360 high-level guests attended the conference including representatives from beneficiary institutions, namely the Court of Cassation, Ministry of Justice, Constitutional Court, Council of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Justice Academy of Türkiye, Regional Courts of Appeal and First Instance Courts, as well as senior representatives from the Central Finance and Contracts Unit, Delegation of European Union to Türkiye, the Council of Europe, embassies in Ankara and international organisations.

In his address, Mr Akarca, First President of the Court of Cassation stated that the Project was prepared and implemented as a fulfillment of the responsibility of the high courts to provide guidance. Referring to the reforms carried out by the Court of Cassation in recent years, Mr Akarca stated that the Project had provided very important contributions to the Court of Cassation, especially in terms of judicial quality, and emphasised that the most effective ways of realising the principles of judicial independence, impartiality, integrity, transparency, and accountability of the judiciary is the delivery of high-quality judicial services.

Ms Pertzinidou, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Türkiye, highlighted that one of the most important tasks of the Court of Cassation, and its greatest responsibility towards society, is to achieve the unity of jurisprudence in order to ensure legal certainty, equality before the law and legal predictability. She added that this Project supported the Court of Cassation in bringing together several judicial actors to discuss systematic problems, best practices in European countries, respect for the European Convention on Human Rights and the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights judgments.

Mr Massolin, Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Ankara, reminded that the project achieved significant results and activities were carried out to further strengthen and improve the independence, impartiality, efficiency, and administration of justice within the Turkish Court of Cassation, since the Project inception in February 2019.

The conference ended with the closing speeches of Fevzi Yıldırım, Secretary General of the Court of Cassation and Biljana Sladojevic Milatovic, Project Coordinator of the Council of Europe.

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 Türkiye is the end beneficiary of the Project.