Ankara vows to reform judicial system in EU bid

ANKARA

The Turkish government pledges for further reform in judiciary with plans to reveal judicial reform strategy in January that will be action plan the next five years after having discussions with other stakeholders, Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül said on Dec. 11 after Reform Action Group meeting.

Turkey had progress in legislation reforms in judiciary such as exceptional detention and quick trial, but there are deficiencies in practice; extending investigations and investigations even has not seen any trials, the minister said speaking at a press conference with the minister of foreign affairs , interior and finance.

“We would like to eliminate these problems derived from practice,” he said.

“Of course judiciary is impartial, independent, but the government and the parliament will take steps in order to remove deficiencies in increasing legislative capacities,” he stated.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said they discussed steps to be taken with the EU such as visa liberalization, the fight against terrorism and the updating of the Customs Union.

“Our citizens deserve to travel visa-free to Europe,” the minister said noting that Ankara continues work on remaining benchmarks to launch vise liberalization process with the EU.

The requirements for the process have fallen to six benchmarks after the governments met following the new biometric passports are recognized by the EU.

The government convened joint working groups on protection of personal information and on ethics law by the parliament he said and added that they will proceed determined work for vise free travel for Turks”

There is also a serious delay in the money that the EU needs to transfer to Syrian migrants, the foreign minister said.

“They are wrong if they think they punish Turkey” Çavuşoğlu said elaborating on restriction on IPA, accession funds of the EU for Turkey. Minister of Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak also stressed need for updating customs union agreement.

In a written joint statement released after the fifth meeting of the Reform Action Group, it is assessed that Turkey’s efforts to adapt itself to EU standards will continue in a determined manner. The next step aimed in the reform process is to lift monitoring on Turkey by Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, it declared.

The statement noted that efforts to reform Turkey’s Justice Academy will continue and the number of judges and prosecutors will be increased in accordance with the standards accepted by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ).

“We decided to update the Action Plan on Prevention of European Court of Human Rights Violation, that will expire on Mar.2019, in the first quarter of 2019. In the course of the update, all stakeholder’s opinions and suggestions will be considered, including Council of Europe and European Commission,” the statement asserted.

The statement also expressed that Turkey-EU High-Level Dialogue meetings will be held on Dec.18, Jan.15 and Feb.28 in fields of energy, transportation and economy, respectively. On Dec.18-20, Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting will be held, the statement announced.

The preparations for the National Migration Strategy Plan commenced and the 2019-2020 Action Plan on the Fight against Organised Crime is expected to be approved on Jan. 2019, the statement declared.