‘Biggest’ courthouse to open in January

ISTANBUL - HÜRRİYET

The courthouse includes 326 rooms for prosecutors, 298 courtrooms and 51 bailiffs offices, as well as two conference halls, one hosting 500 and the other 180 people. Hürriyet photo

It has been announced that Istanbul’s Anatolian Justice Palace, which will be Turkey’s largest public building and the world’s largest courthouse complex, will be open and active in January.

The building’s construction started in 2006 and the complex spreads over 126,000 square meters of land. The building itself covers 80,000 square meters of this area, and consists of five main blocks. The 16-story B Block contains 135,000 square meters, and the 12-story A Block over 100,000 square meters, while the nine-story D Block and seven-story C and E Blocks are over 20,000 square meters each.

The courthouse complex, which is to bring together all the separate courthouses on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, includes 326 rooms for prosecutors, 298 courtrooms and 51 bailiffs offices, as well as two conference halls, one hosting 500 and the other 180 people. The complex includes a 2,600-vehicle capacity parking lot, a 2,200-person capacity dining hall, and 180- person capacity nursery.

Surveillance system

The High Criminal Court’s courtrooms are 100 square meters each, while the courtrooms for other courts are 50 square meters each. The High Criminal Court’s rooms are also equipped with a camera surveillance system. In all of the courtrooms the sidewalls overlooking the main area are glass. The furniture used in the courthouse complex was made by convicts in Turkish prisons.

The complex will be the workplace of about 5,000 people, including 550 judges and prosecutors. Some 4,000 of the total number of employees will work in maintainance, cleaning and security for the complex. It is expected that 45,000 people will circulate through the courthouse complex daily.