XII. Conference of Balkan and Euro-Mediterranean Network of Councils for the Judiciary (BENMCJ) of which our Council is a board member, was held in Burgas, Bulgaria on 10-11 July 2017 with the participation of Network member countries.

In the Conference, the Council of Judges and Prosecutors of Türkiye (CJP) was represented by Mr. Turan Kuloğlu, Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Zeki Uysal and Mr. Halil Akkız, Rapporteur Judges at the Bureau of Foreign Relations and Projects.

The topics of “Impartiality and Code of Ethics and the future of judiciary and impartiality” and “The role of Councils of the judiciary in the fight against terrorism” were discussed in this Conference. The members elaborated these topics and adopted some recommendations. (Annex-1)

On the first day of the meeting, Mr. Zeki Uysal, Rapporteur Judge at CJP, made a presentation regarding “The Project on Strengthening Judicial Ethics in Türkiye” that is currently being carried out by CJP together with the Council of Europe. On the second day of the meeting, Mr. Halil Akkız, Rapporteur Judge at CJP, made a presentation to the member countries about “The New Structure of CJP”.

With an amendment to the regulation, the restriction about the fact that the president may be re-elected at the utmost only for one more term was annulled and the present President Mr. Gjin Gjoni, member of High Council of Justice of Albania was elected President of the Network for two years. In the Conference, “The Rules of Organization and the Administration of the Network” was accepted and put into force. (Annex-2)  “Annual Working Plan” for the period of 2017-2018 was accepted as well.

The membership demand of Serbia was approved and accepted in the Conference and Serbia became an official member of the Network.

For the expired memberships of Board, Bulgaria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, Hungary and Kosovo were elected as new members of the Network.

Furthermore, it was decided that XIII. Conference will take place in Montenegro next year and two topics to be discussed in this meeting were determined.

Taking into consideration the importance of the topic and to discuss it in depth, the first topic was chosen as 1. “The role of the Councils for the Judiciary in the fight against terrorism” which was also discussed in this meeting. It was decided to discuss this topic together with the questionnaire to be carried out on the topic of “The use of social media by the judges and prosecutors”. The second topic to be discussed was determined as 2. “Relationship between the councils for the judiciary and the other state institutions.”

Annex-1: Decisions and Recommendations

Annex-2: The Rules of Organization and Operation of the Network