Ruling AKP mulls mediation in Turkish legal system

"I examined the application in Britain closely. While we discuss the issue in the commission, we can make some proposals for new amendments to the British system. I think the arrangement will ease the legal system. However, improvements to the system should be discussed in Turkey," the president of the Parliamentary Justice Committee, Ahmet Iyimaya, told the Turkish Daily News.

The draft on the Parliamentary Justice Committee's agenda would offer mediators to disputing parties before they file a suit. A mediation system is applied in some other European countries, as well as Canada and Australia.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has opposed the draft lest it reduce the efficiency of the present system. CHP Konya deputy and member of the Constitution Committee, Atilla Kart, criticized the system.

"We already have difficulties making state institutions that use public power work. Public prosecutors have great sanctioning powers. While we experience trouble in the functioning of these institutions, I believe such new institutions, which have no sanctioned power and reduce the efficiency of legal mechanisms, are not right," he said.

SHORT CUT TO DISSOLVE DISPUTE
The draft law on “mediation in legal disputes” opens the way to dispute resolution through a mediator for private law matters. The mediator will be a third party agreed upon by both sides. The draft also includes foreigners in its scope.

According to the draft, sides will have equal rights throughout the process, including the process of applying to the mediator. Unless decided otherwise, the mediator will keep all information and documents presented to him confidential. Sides that apply for a mediator will have to obey this confidentiality principle.

"The court will encourage sides to apply to a mediator. If an application for mediation is not replied to within 30 days, the request is considered to be rejected," the draft says. If sides announce they wish to apply for mediation after a suit is filed, the trial will be postponed for three months. A mediator's task will end if he or she withdraws, or if the sides resolve the dispute themselves.

The draft prohibits mediators from advertising. Their cards and signs will only include "mediator" and academic titles.

Mediators will work under the authority of the Mediation Department within the Justice Ministry and will have to earn a certificate by completing 150 hours of training. Only citizens with an undergraduate education of four years or more will be eligible for a position as a mediator.

The mediation system is similar to the Ottoman Empire's institution of qadi, in terms of solving disputes between people through reconciliation. However, the Ottoman qadis were based on Shariah, the Islamic religious law.