Turkey’s Brand New Self-Justice System

Turkey's judicial system has undergone many reforms over the past decade, such as a new Criminal Code, Commercial Code, Code of Obligations and Civil Procedure Code. Until June 2012, the most prominent change in the judicial system was the new Civil Procedure Code (the "CPC"). However, the impact of the Law of Mediation for Civil Conflicts (the "Mediation Law"),¹ enacted in June 2012, may surpass that of the CPC.

After the Mediation Law, the Regulation on Mediation for Civil Conflicts (the "Regulation")² was passed in January 2013. Both the Mediation Law and the Regulation set forth the fundamentals of the mediation process, while also regulating the institutional structure to be established within the current judicial system. However, since the initial announcement of the draft Mediation Law, there have been many discussions and debates within public platforms. Many people, especially attorneys, argued against the draft, even claiming that the draft Mediation Law