Judicial reform aimed at killing 10 birds with one stone

The driving force behind the planned judicial reform is the accession partnership document of the European Commission released in 2007. The report conveyed the commission's expectation of Turkey of a judicial reform strategy, which includes a roadmap aimed at strengthening the impartiality, independence and efficiency of the judiciary.

As indicated in the Justice Ministry's report, the first two objectives of the reform are to reinforce the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, one of the topics passionately debated in Turkey. This objective includes a plan to restructure or redefine the scope of authority of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) and military courts.

The HSYK has been the focus of harsh criticism for its controversial attempts to replace judges and prosecutors involved in Turkey's top judicial cases, raising questions about the impartiality of the board. The HSYK was created by the post-1980 military coup government, apparently in a bid to safeguard the military from prosecution. It currently has seven permanent and five substitute members.

The judicial reform envisages that academics with a jurist background and lawyers will be represented in the HSYK, the path to seek legal redress against HSYK decisions will be opened and the Justice Ministry and his undersecretary will remain as board members. The ministry report did not offer a clue as to how many members the HSYK will have, but Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin announced in late August that the number of board members will be increased to 21 and that around 12,000 senior judges will be able to run for a seat in the HSYK, while thousands more will be able to cast a vote for the nominees. Parliament, which currently has no say in electing members to the board, will also be involved in selecting members of the HSYK.

The HSYK is, however, strongly opposed to such a move, claiming that appointment of its members by the president or Parliament would have a negative impact on the structure and identity of the board. According to the board, the president will be influenced by his political views when appointing members to the HSYK.

Military courts will no longer have non-jurist members, the Justice Ministry report indicated. These courts will be moved to venues outside of the military's prohibited zones.

As the third objective of the judicial reform, the ministry has picked the improvement of the efficacy and efficiency of judicial organs. To this end, all members of the judiciary -- including the Council of State, the Turkish Justice Academy, the Turkish Bar Association (TBB) and the faculties of universities -- will be engaged in strong cooperation.

In order to improve the professional competency of the judiciary, jurists will be trained in such fields as new legislation, ethics, contemporary information technology and efficient communication. Members of the HSYK, Justice Ministry and Council of State and academics at law faculties will attend scientific conferences to be held on a regular basis. More members of the judiciary will be taught a foreign language.

According to the Justice Ministry report, the fifth objective of the planned reform is to improve the administrative system of the judiciary. Under this objective, duties and responsibilities of judges and prosecutors on administrative and financial affairs will be decreased, and professional standards of jurists will be re-determined and increased.

To boost people's trust in the judiciary, the Justice Ministry will first of all determine the needs of judicial bodies in cooperation with universities and international institutions and organizations, and jurists will be trained on the fight against corruption. To facilitate the access to justice, Web sites of the ministry and courthouses will be enriched with practical information. Required informatics technology will be developed to enable citizens to file lawsuits over the Internet, and more staff will be employed to translate judicial texts to the languages needed.

 Among other objectives cited in the Justice Ministry report are the implementation of measures to avoid disaccord between courts and the continuation of legislation-related work as part of efforts to harmonize Turkey's laws with the EU.

International reports point to flaws in Turkish judiciary

Many past reports prepared by international bodies severely criticized Turkey for the flaws in its judicial system.

The EU's Turkey's progress report in 2008, for example, stressed that the composition of the HSYK does not represent the entire judiciary in the country. “The European Parliament notes that the progress made with regard to the development of a judicial reform strategy; points out, however, the urgent need for further systematic efforts to enhance the impartiality and professionalism of the judiciary and to ensure that members of the judiciary refrain from interfering in political debate and that they respect the standards of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR),” read the report.