Spain supports the establishment of the Ombudsman in Turkey

The office of the Turkish Ombudsman, in operation since March 2013, is looking for a new approach to handling complaints that will guarantee and protect the rights of Turkish citizens. It intends to achieve this, using tools such as the “Support for the establishment of the Ombudsman institution in Turkey” project, financed by the European Commission and managed by the FIIAPP, using experts from the Spanish Ombudsman, as the leading institution, and the French Defender of Rights.

To enable this, the FIIAPP organized a study visit to Madrid from 17th to 21st November with the objective of showing how the Spanish Ombudsman operates in practice. The Turkish advisors are learning in situ about the institution of the Spanish Ombudsman, its organization, Register, citizen assistance services—both in-person and by telephone, and familiarizing themselves with the computer system for handling complaints.

Likewise, meetings were held between the Turkish advisors and their Spanish counterparts in which they shared their experiences in their respective working areas and learned about the relationship of the Ombudsman with the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. In order to learn about the relationship of the Ombudsman with other branches of government, the Turkish experts will visit other institutions, such as the Ministry of Justiceand the Centre for Legal Studiesin Madrid, where the working sessions will be devoted to the role of the Ombudsman as a driver of legislative reforms.

Beforehand, within the framework of the two-year project, advisors to the Spanish Ombudsman and French Defender of Rights worked with their Turkish counterparts on identifying training needs, and training events were held on handling complaints in the Spanish Ombudsman and French Defender of Rights, with comparative study of the Turkish, Spanish and French models.