MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF

CIVIL AFFAIRSCIVIL AFFAIRSMEDIATIONMEDIATION DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT

OVERVIEW OF MEDIATION IN TURKEYOVERVIEW OF MEDIATION IN TURKEY• The Law on Mediation in Civil Disputes no 6325 entered into

force upon its publication in the Official Gazette on 22 June 2012.

• The provisions (28-36) concerning the organisation and duties of the Department of Mediation as well as the Mediation Council entered into force once the law was published, and other provisions were put into force one year later on 22 June 2013.

• The Regulation concerning the Mediation Law entered into force on the same date (22 June 2013).

• Mediation Department was established on 22 June 2012 within the Directorate General of Civil Affairs of the Ministry of Justice.

CURRENT STATUS OF TRAININGCURRENT STATUS OF TRAINING• Currently there are 50 training institutions which

are authorised to deliver mediation training. So far 5000 participants have received mediation training in these institutions.

• There is neither a specific training module on mediation, nor specialisation in different aspects of mediation.

• There are 1613 mediators from 58 provinces who are registered in Mediation Registry.

MEDIATION EXAMSMEDIATION EXAMS

EXAM Written Oral/Practical

1 1638 1569

2 1741 1529

3 644 525

4 311 Not done

Total 4334 3623

Number of applicants for written and Number of applicants for written and practical examspractical exams

Number of applicants successful in written and practical exams

EXAM Written Oral/Practical

1 1580 1457

2 1579 1244

3 535 478

4 242 Not done

Total 3936 3179

CURRENTCURRENT SITUATION ON SITUATION ON COURTHOUSESCOURTHOUSES

The Law no 6325 on Mediation in Civil Disputes prescribes that the courts should encourage the parties to resort to a mediator. However the current situation shows that the judges do not make sufficient effort to encourage parties for mediation. A legislative amendment may be foreseen to allow judges to act as mediators. The law should also include provisions which would be more encouraging for judges to direct parties for mediation.

Present situationProject Component 3 - Practices

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According to subject of disputes: 77% of disputes between employee-employer5.7% for pecuniary and non-pecuniary compensation 4.3% for alimony

Agreed 228

Not agreed 5

Total 233

Present situationProject Component 3 - Practices

Judges do not use mediation Implementation of mediation in the court

There will be 30 courts in 5 pilot courthouses where mediation practices will be developed.Pilot court suggestions1.İstanbul 10 (2 Civil Courts of First Instance, 4 Trade Courts, 2 Consumer Courts, 2 civil courts for intellectual and industrial property rights)2.İzmir 7 (4 Trade Courts, 2 Civil Courts of First Instance, 1 Family Court)3.Bursa 5 (3 Labor Courts, 1 Trade Court, 1 Civil Court of First Instance)4.Kayseri 4 (2 Labor Courts, 1 Trade Court, 1 Civil Court of First Instance)5.Mersin 4 (2 Family Courts, 1 Civil Court of First Instance, 1 Labor Court)

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95.7% of parties which referred to mediation had never applied for court proceedings.

Cooperation with Bar Associations

• Presidents of 10 Bar Associations are mediators. – Aksaray – Mr Levent BOZKURT– Konya – Mr Fevzi KAYACAN– Manisa _ Mr Zeynel BALKIZ– Mardin – Mr Azat YILDIRIM– Rize – Mr Yunus ÇORUH– Samsun – Mr Kerami GÜRBÜZ– Siirt – Mr Mehmet Cemal ACAR– Şanlıurfa – Mr Hikmet DELEBE– Van – Mr Murat TİMUR– Yozgat – Mr Mehmet ŞİMŞEK

• Seminars were organised on mediation in cooperation with bar associations.• Mediation commissions were built within the premises of some bar

associations.• Thanks to mediation a bridge is built between the lawyers and the Ministry of

Justice. 10

Present SituationProject Component 4- Communication Strategy and

Awareness Campaigns

UNDP –Phase I • Various Regioanl and Local

Meetings• Reaching 100,000 people• Campaign Strategy

Ministry of Justice 2013-2015• Informative SMS messages on mediation were sent to

730.000 complainants and defendants registered in UYAP SMS System.

• Mediation was referred in 3 national TV films (Çocuklar Duymasın, Seksenler and Zengin Kız Fakir Oğlan). Efforts are being made to utilise 1 more TV film to promote mediation.

• 20.000 Mediation posters and 310.000 Mediation leaflets were prepared and distributed to all bar associations, chambers of trade and industry, and chambers of tradesmen and craftsmen.

• The Legislation on Mediation was printed in 8500 copies and sent to relevant civil courts, chief public prosecution offices, commissions and regional administrative courts.

62 meetings and cooperation activities were held with :– Ba Associations (10)– Non-Governmental Organisations (6)– Universities (11)– Judges (7)– TOBB-TESK (28)

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Campaign and Communication Strategy

Identification of Problems: Work items of the Strategy Messages to target audience

12

Analysis of Target Audience???

13

Baseline Survey , Analysis and Evaluation

Baseline Survey—Result monitoring reserach

Communication and Campaign Survey

14

Performance Indicators

15

ACTIVITIES OF MEDIATION ACTIVITIES OF MEDIATION DEPARTMENTDEPARTMENT

CONFERENCES-SEMINARS-MEETINGSCONFERENCES-SEMINARS-MEETINGS(for Awareness Raising and Promotion)(for Awareness Raising and Promotion)

With Bar Associations, Foundations and Non-Governmental Organisations

16

Cooperation with Universities 11

For judges 7

Cooperation with TOBB and TESK 28

TOTAL 62

Study visits to Study visits to Germany, Austria Germany, Austria

and the UKand the UK

229 out of 234 mediation activities (notified to Mediation Department) resulted with agreement between parties, which indicates a 98% success.

Successful 234

Failed 5

Total 229

PROMOTION ACTIVITIESPROMOTION ACTIVITIES• Informative SMS messages on mediation were sent to

730.000 complainants and defendants registered in UYAP SMS System.

• Mediation was referred in 3 national TV films (Çocuklar Duymasın, Seksenler and Zengin Kız Fakir Oğlan). Efforts are being made to utilise 1 more TV film to promote mediation.

• 20.000 Mediation posters and 310.000 Mediation leaflets were prepared and distributed to all bar associations, chambers of trade and industry, and chambers of tradesmen and craftsmen.

• The Legislation on Mediation was printed in 8500 copies and sent to relevant civil courts, chief public prosecution offices, commissions and regional administrative courts.

• Web site of the Mediation Department was built and started to function on 19.06.2013.

• Mediation popup was prepared and placed in almost 40.000’e lawyers’ portal, on www.adalet.gov.tr and on UYAP site.

• Updated list of mediators is published on our website and linked to the official website of the Ministry of Justice and UYAP Portal.

• Mediation Support line was opened through which the psychologists, social workers and sociologists start informing people on mediation.

The number of mediators who The number of mediators who successfully passed the exam is 3180, successfully passed the exam is 3180,

whereas the number of eventual whereas the number of eventual mediation agreement is 209, WHY?mediation agreement is 209, WHY?

The number of mediators registered to Mediation Registry is 1613. It is predicted that other mediators who are entitled to register in the mediation registry are waiting to see the future of mediation. Moreover the challenges concerning the promotion of mediation has a negative impact on applications for mediation.

Legislative problems and Legislative problems and Proposals for solutionProposals for solution

• The mediation law and other special laws do not contain provisions that are encouraging for mediation. Therefore new provisions should be stipulated which would provide advantages if parties prefer to use mediation.

• Several aspects of family law are out of the scope of mediation due to legislative restrictions. However mediation activity in the world started with family mediation, and family law is very eligible for mediation.

• Compulsory mediation has never been considered. However compulsory mediation can be pursued in certain cases or disputes involving certain amount of claims.

• Legal aid was not considered in the drafting of legislation. Legal aid might have been applicable both in the course of referral to mediation and legal representation of parties (through lawyers) during mediation process.

• The Mediation Department does not have a separate budget. Should the Mediation Department had been organised as a Directorate General of Alternative Dispute Resolution, then promotion activities would have been facilitated.

• Annual fee and registration fee paid by mediators in order to enrol in Mediation Registry are recorded as revenue to the Finance Ministry. However this should have been regulated in the legislation as a revenue deposited to the Mediation Department.