From 9 to 10 April 2025, the CyberSEE European Union-Council of Europe joint project, organised two domestic events in Ankara, Türkiye, to support the country’s criminal justice response to challenges posed by cybercrime and electronic evidence.
On the first day, the meeting with the Turkish Police Academy and the Turkish National Police, including the Cybercrime Department, focused on the development of the cybercrime training activities for police investigators. The discussion also explored potential support from the CyberSEE project in establishing a sustainable training programme within the training institutions, including the newly established Faculty of Homeland Security.
The current training needs and existing practices in Türkiye, as well as training training materials and tools developed by the Council of Europe were also under discussion. The Train-the-Trainer (ToT) programmes and upcoming certification course for law enforcement trainers were introduced in view of the potentially delivery in partnership with the Turkish Police Academy.
On the second day, over 40 representatives of Ministry of Justice, National Police, Gendarmerie, Digital Transformation Office, Personal Data Protection Authority, Capital Markets Board, Criminal Courts, Prosecution Service, Ministry of Transport, Financial Intelligence Unit (MASAK), and Academia, participated in a workshop focusing on the national legal reforms on cybercrime and electronic evidence.
The key gaps identified in a previous legal assessment conducted under the iPROCEEDS-2 project were under discussions, as well as the recommendations for full transposition of the provisions on the expedited preservation of computer data, production orders, and the real-time collection of traffic data from the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) into national legislation..
Additional recommendations were made for amending the Türkiye’s Criminal Procedure Law No. 5271/2004 and Cybersecurity Law No. 7545/2025 in view of full alignment with the international standards.
Both meetings contributed to a deeper understanding of the standards of the Budapest Convention and highlighted areas where national laws and training frameworks could be further strengthened. Participants identified key priorities for aligning domestic practices with international norms and discussed ways to enhance the national response to cybercrime through legal reforms and targeted capacity-building initiatives.
The Council of Europe, through the CyberSEE project, reiterated its commitment to continue assisting the Turkish authorities by providing the necessary support in the legislative reforms, development of the training strategies and fostering the international cooperation.
Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC)