Turkey and Spain: Twin Models of Judicial Practices

Since May 2019, the twinning project  Reinforcing training for future judges and prosecutors, funded by the European Union and managed by FIIAPP, has been working to design, implement and consolidate a new system of professional practices for judges and prosecutors who join the body every year in Turkey. After implementing the new procedures, manuals and monitoring system inspired by Spanish practices, a structure has been put into operation made up of more than 150 judges and prosecutors, 50 coordinators and 100 judicial inspectors, suitably trained and distributed in courts of all regions of the country.

The first group instructed in this system will finish the nine-month internship in the next few weeks. This first cohort, made up of around 1,000 members, has also received specific training from Spanish and Turkish specialists in seminars on particularly innovative and relevant subjects such as the use of new technologies in the justice sector, legal cooperation in the field of civil matters, cybercrime, digital evidence, victims’ rights, jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, restorative justice, etc.

Within the framework of the project, a delegation made up of those responsible for training from the main courts of different regions, as well as part of the team from the Ministry of Justice and Judicial School, participated in a study visit to learn practice in the Spanish system first-hand.

During the visit, they had the opportunity to visit the main state institutions that train judges and prosecutors in Spain: the Judicial School in Barcelona and the Centre for Legal Studies in Madrid. They learned about the system of initial practices in large courts (Plaza Castilla in Madrid and Ciudad de la Justicia in Barcelona), and smaller regional headquarters such as the Provincial Court of Toledo from mentor judges and senior officials. There was also a visit to the headquarters of the General Council of the Judiciary and the Supreme Court.

The authorities’ commitment to the implementation of the new internship model has recently been demonstrated with the inauguration of a fully equipped ‘Internship Centre for Future Judges and Prosecutors’ to host the upcoming training activities and internships in Istanbul-Anatolia. Before the project ends, three more seminars, a study visit, and a face-to-face monitoring and consolidation mission in regional courts in Turkey are planned.