Upon retirement of the First President of the Court of Cassation İsmail Rüştü Cirit on 23 March 2020 on age grounds, as per Article 154 of the Constitution and Articles 30 and 31 of the Court of Cassation Law no. 2797, the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation Mr. Mehmet Akarca, was elected as the First President of the Court of Cassation by the Grand Plenary Assembly of the Court of Cassation.

Respectfully Announced

Click here to access CV…

With the adoption of Court of Cassation Codes of Conduct in the last quarter of 2017, many mechanisms have been established for the proper functioning of the judicial ethics system, the most important of these is “Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee”. Established in a transparent and democratic way, the Committee is independent from the governing and disciplinary bodies and is considered as the most important guarantee of the adaptation power of ethical principles to changing conditions. Hence, in order to wider disseminate the decisions of the Committee and develop a common understanding of judicial ethics in Türkiye, “Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee Decisions Symposium” was organized in Ankara on October 11, 2019.

Click here for Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee Decisions and the Relevant Legislation Book

Click here for the brochure of Judicial Ethics Advisory Committe

The İstanbul Declaration and the Implementation Measures were adopted in United Nations.

The İstanbul Declaration and the Implementation Measures were adopted in United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice where 192 countries are represented. The Draft Resolution was adopted in the Plenary Session on May 24th as a result of two-week meetings attended by the Deputy Secretary General of the Court of Cassation of the Republic of Türkiye and Project Manager of the Ethics, Transparency and Trust Project of the Court of Cassation Dr. Mustafa Saldırım, Senior Project Expert Gözde Hülagü and Project Expert Nihal Eriş. The First President of the Court of Cassation Honourable İsmail Rüştü Cirit congratulated The Project Team of the Court of Cassation, Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Türkiye to the United Nations Office in Vienna Mr. Ahmet Muhtar Gün and the Deputy Ambassador Mr. Cenk Ünal and the Counsellor Mr. Hüseyin Hançer for their hard work. 

Click here for the video of the adoption of Draft Resolution.
Click here for Thank-you Speech.
Click here for Concept Note.
Click here for UN Resolution.
Click here for the speech delivered in the informal meeting on May 17th 
Click here for the speech delivered in the informal meeting on May 16th 

ISTANBUL DECLARATION IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES WERE ADOPTED AT THE 4TH INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT OF HIGH COURTS HOSTED BY THE COURT OF CASSATION IN ISTANBUL

The Court of Cassation is the leader in ensuring integrity and transparency in the judiciary

The 4th International Summit of High Courts was hosted by the Court of Cassation in Istanbul. Within the framework of the cooperation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), chief justices, international experts and high level representatives of international organizations such as Council of Europe from five continents and 30 countries actively participated in the Summit, which was held on October 11-12, 2018.

At the meeting, where the Istanbul Declaration on Transparency was dicussed, the participants represented not only different continents and countries but also different legal systems and reflected their views. The Court of Cassation, which performed major reforms in ethics and transparency as an initiator in Türkiye within the context of Ethics, Transparency and Trust Project of the Court of Cassation, continues to lead in the international arena with these works.

The estanblishment of necessary mechanisms to ensure transparency, the legislative and secondary legislation and other measures were addressed in the scope of Istanbul Declaration Implementation Measures. In this way, it is aimed to provide guidance on the successful implementation of the principles.

Istanbul Declaration, the first and only text on transparency

The Istanbul Declaration on Transparency in the Judicial Process is a first in the field of transparency in the international arena. In this respect, which is extremely important for the protection of human rights, is of direct relevance to all countries in the world. With adoption and diffusion of Istanbul Declaration, many countries around the world including Türkiye is expected to strengthen the justice policies in terms of transparency.

Following the adoption of Istanbul Declaration on Transparency in the Judicial Process, the Istanbul Declaration Implementation Measures were adopted at the last summit

As a result of a long and systematic study, the Istanbul Declaration was adopted at the 3rd International Summit of High Courts in June 2016. The Draft Implementation Measures of the Istanbul Declaration on Transparency had been developed in Ankara in October 2017 with the attendance of international experts and heads of Chambers and judges of the Court of Cassation. At the 4th International Summit of High Courts held on 11-12 October 2018, the Draft Implementation Measures were accepted and finalized. In this way, the Summit successfully achieved its goal as planned.

The Istanbul Declaration on Transparency in the Judicial Process is an important milestone in the Judiciary’s Accountability to Society

The Istanbul Declaration is an important beginning for a transparent and accountable judicial system. Making all decisions public, ensuring that proceedings are followed up easily and free of charges and in a transparent way through electronic services, continuously increasing the service quality by measuring the satisfaction level of court users and lawyers, informing students and society about legal proceedings, multi-door courthouse system requires the necessity of new reforms in many areas, such as the one-stop principle in justice services.

The Istanbul Declaration is a model that organizes, systematises and establishes the best practices of service-oriented society in the comparative law. Due to its radical and structural changes, it opens the door to important reforms in the justice services in our country and in the world.

The Court of Cassation, which adopted the codes of conduct in the last quarter of last year and carried out a critical reform regarding enhancing the integrity in the judiciary, will have completed all structural reforms in terms of transparency by the end of this year. Following the completion of reforms on the best practices of the Istanbul Declaration, in January 2019, these works will be presented to the press and the public at a national conference. Hence, it is aimed to increase satisfaction level and confidence in the judiciary in case of public awareness about the rights and opportunities of the society in judicial services.

Click here to see the video of the 4th International Summit of High Courts

Click here to see the video of Istanbul Declaration

Click here for Istanbul Declaration and Implementation Measures

Click here for the 4th International Summit of High Courts website

Click here for the Evaluations of the international experts regarding the Summit

Having completed a long and exhausting training program on ethics, Ankara Faculty of Law and Hacettepe Faculty of Law students, who were entitled to be facilitators of “the Court of Cassation Judicial Codes of Conduct”, received their certificates. Within the scope of Ethics Week, the ceremony held on May 24, 2018 at the Court of Cassation was attended by the First President of the Court of Cassation İsmail Rüştü Cirit, the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation Mehmet Akarca, First Vice President and President of the General Assembly of Civil Chambers Mehmet Kürtül, First Vice President and President of the General Assembly of Criminal Chambers Abdulhalik Yıldız, President of the 4th Criminal Chamber Assoc. Prof. Dr. İbrahim Şahbaz, Secretary General Yusuf Ziyaattin Cenik and the bench members, rapporteur judges, public prosecutors and staff of the Court of Cassation who were in charge of trainings.