New Regional Appeal Courts Now Operational

Prior to 20 July 2016, appeals from the decisions of the first instance courts were made to the Court of Appeal in Ankara. This caused a very heavy workload for the Court of Appeal. To overcome this and in the interest of easing the pressure on the Appeal Court, it was decided to create Regional Courts of Appeal ("RCA"). To that end the legislator enacted the Law No. 5235 on the Establishment and Authorities of the Civil First Instance Courts and the Regional Courts of Appeal. This Law provided for a new appeal procedure and the Civil Procedure Code was amended accordingly. On 7 November 2015, the Decree on the Establishment and Working Principles of Regional Courts of Appeal was published in the Official Gazette which provided that the Regional Courts of Appeal shall come into effect as of 20 July 2016. In this regard, 7 regional courts have been established and the previous appeal system has been abrogated. The previous appellate regime will continue to apply for the