Council of Europe held a roundtable with the representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Türkiye, Directorate General for Foreign Relations and EU Affairs, concerning legislative framework for mutual legal assistance and extradition on 8 April 2022, in Ankara. It was the second such meeting at a technical level, following a roundtable meeting held with the Ministry of Justice in December 2021.

The meeting centred on the analysis conducted by the Council of Europe’s experts of Türkiye's legislation in the field of international judicial cooperation against international standards. Proposals for draft legal amendments in line with the international standards, including standards of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and European Convention on Extradition, and their Additional Protocols, were put forward for the consideration of the Ministry of Justice.

Addressing the draft legislative advice, the Ministry of Justice representatives provided a range of in-depth explanations as to the findings and advice put forward in the respective technical papers.

Once finalised on the basis of the discussions held in the roundtables, the conclusions and proposals resulting from the legislative assessment will be presented and discussed further with a broader audience, including the Ministry of Justice and representatives of the judiciary, prosecution and the Union of Turkish Bar Associations.

The project ‘Improving International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters’ is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe.