REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

MINISTER TUNÇ: WITHOUT JUSTICE, THERE CAN BE NO PEACE

Minister of Justice, Mr. Yılmaz Tunç said: “Justice is the foundation of property and the state. Without justice, there can be no rest, no peace; constitutional state is a state of which all processes are subject to judicial control. It is the state governed by the rule of law. Therefore, the prerequisite for the constitutional state is an independent and impartial judiciary.”

Minister of Justice Tunç attended the Antalya Forensic Sciences Days Meeting held at the Education and Social Facilities of Foundation for Strengthening the Organisation of Justice (ATGV)in Antalya.

Noting that Antalya is the capital of tourism and the apple of Türkiye’s eye, Minister of Justice Tunç expressed: “Antalya has become much more beautiful, progressed and developed especially in recent years, and the city has become and will be the apple of the eye and a tourism centre not only of the country but of the whole world.”

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS ARE FAR FROM FINDING SOLUTIONS TO HUMANITY'S PROBLEMS

Delivering statements regarding Israel's attacks against Palestine, Minister Yılmaz Tunç said that they condemned the genocide in Palestine. Stressing that crimes against humanity and war crime have been committed in Palestine, he added: “The Palestinian people, who have been under a blockade for years, are subjected to a genocide, including children, elderly and young people. This is happening before the very eyes of the whole world and all international organizations. However; unfortunately, international organizations are far from finding solutions to humanity's problems. Our President does not say it for nothing, when he frequently reiterates: 'The world is bigger than five' and 'A fairer world is possible'. He has reasons to say such words. The situation in Palestine tears our hearts out. From the very beginning, after these attacks that started on October 7, our esteemed President has been making efforts to extinguish the fire there by holding meetings with regional leaders, world leaders, and more than 20 leaders at the level of heads of government and state. Likewise, our Minister of Foreign Affairs travels to the region and holds meetings with regional leaders, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other organizations to fight to stop the fire and attacks there as soon as possible. On the other hand, regarding the humanitarian aid efforts, we continue to support our Palestinian brothers there by delivering humanitarian aid to the region with our military planes."

Noting that the United Nations Security Council and the international agreements by which it is bound have never been implemented, Tunç specified that the ceasefire proposals brought before the Council were rejected by the veto of the United States. Underscoring that the Security Council, while supposed to be fighting for the peace and tranquillity of humanity, acted as if it were a "war council" by rejecting the ceasefire proposal, "Such acts are being carried out before the very eyes of the whole world. Unfortunately, from the Geneva Convention to the law of war, all the international principles and agreements that the humanity, especially the states, as signatory of such agreements, should comply with are being trampled on in front of the eyes of the whole world. As Türkiye, we will continue our struggle to ensure a ceasefire there, to stop the attacks and to prevent the massacre of children, especially with our President, our Minister of Foreign Affairs and the whole country. From now on, we will continue to stand by our Palestinian brothers. We will continue to say that there is a genocide and a war crime has been committed here. We will continue to say that the permanent solution to the problem shall be the establishment of an independent state, especially for the Palestinian people, and that it is their right. A Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital should be established and a two-state structure should be formed there. Otherwise, this problem will remain unsolved forever and children will continue to be massacred. It is humanity's duty to protect children. It is humanity's duty to protect the elderly. But unfortunately, the hospital is bombed in front of the whole world and more than 500 civilians have lost their lives. This is really not acceptable. As Türkiye, we will continue to stand by our Palestinian brothers and cry out against this injustice to the whole world, Inshallah," he said.

WE HAVE MADE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS TO MAKE JUSTICE SERVICES MORE FAIR AND MORE EFFECTIVE

Indicating that the constitutional state is a state whose all procedures are subject to judicial review and which respects the rules of law, Tunç expressed that the prerequisite for the constitutional state is an independent and impartial judiciary. Stating that there will be no peace and tranquility where there is no justice, Tunç emphasized that justice can be established with a well-functioning, fair and effective judiciary that renders decisions in a reasonable time without any delay. Tunç also said: “We have made significant progress in the last 21 years specially to make justice services more fair and more effective. Particularly, we have strengthened and continue to strengthen the physical facilities and capacity of our justice organization. We continue to offer all the facilities provided by technology to our justice organization and to the service of the judiciary. In the area of justice and especially in terms of information technologies, we have put into practice highly important projects to make the National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP) available to the members of the judiciary, our citizens and lawyers. We continue to offer all the facilities of technology to our justice organization from electronic service of documents to electronic and audio-visual hearings. This also applies to the field of forensic sciences. We have made important progress in increasing the capacity of forensic sciences by taking advantage of technological facilities. Our Institute of Forensic Sciences has a history of 200 years and 100 years of institutional capacity. We need to use technology and artificial intelligence in forensic services in order to reveal the material truth faster and more realistically by benefiting from the latest possibilities of technology. It can be seen that significant progress has been made in terms of revealing the material truth in several areas thanks to the devices recently introduced to our Institute of Forensic Sciences”.

WE HAVE THE MOST MODERN LEGISLATION IN EUROPE AND IN THE WORLD

Noting that they have made significant progress in terms of the physical capacity of the judicial organization, the provision of technological facilities and the alignment of the legislation with the requirements of the age, Tunç stated that they have renewed all of the fundamental laws and that they have the most modern legislation in Europe and the world. Underlining that they are at the most advanced point both physically and technologically, Tunç continued his remarks as follows: “Of course, these are not enough. It is up to our practitioners to implement these well, to implement the legislation well, and to benefit more from that physical capacity. We have been trying to increase the capacity of our practitioners. We had about 7-8 thousand judges and prosecutors twenty years ago. Today, we have 24 thousand judges and prosecutors. We continue to conduct works to increase the quality of education in law faculties. We have introduced an entrance exam for legal professions as a preselection for those graduating from law faculties to become lawyers, judges and prosecutors, which will be put into effect as of 2024. In order to start a law internship, it will be obligatory to pass the entrance exam for legal professions. This will be a pre-stage. Likewise, it will be a requirement to pass the entrance exam for legal professions in order to take the exam to become a judge or prosecutor. There will no longer be candidate judges and prosecutors. There will be assistant judges and prosecutors. While they were previously accepted to the profession of judgeship after a two-year internship, they will now train as assistant judges and prosecutors for three years alongside our experienced judges and prosecutors in a master-apprentice relationship and receive a long-term training in our Justice Academy. During these trainings, they will be subject to different exams and they will be at the stage of being accepted to the profession before our Council of Judges and Prosecutors at the end of three years. This is an important step in increasing our human quality in the judiciary”.

Minister Tunç performed Friday prayer at Akdeniz University Mosque after the Antalya Forensic Science Days meeting. After the prayer, Minister Tunç attended the funeral prayer in absentia for those who lost their lives in Gaza and made contacts in the city.