Joint custody and enforcement of judgments on joint custody

In the Turkish Civil Code, joint custody is not accepted except in cases where the marriage union continues. For this reason, the issue of whether custody can be used together in cases where the marriage union ends and in non-marriage relations, and whether or not the custody decisions issued by foreign courts has been enforced for many years. The main focus of the discussions is the applicability of joint custody within the scope of the provisions of articles 336, 337 and 182 of the Turkish Civil Code and whether the joint custody decisions made by foreign courts are clearly against the public order. In 2016, with the entry into force of the 5th article titled "Equality between spouses" of Protocol No. 7 to the European Convention on Human Rights, discussions on custody together continue in terms of the effect of the Protocol provision on domestic law. In our study, international legal documents, comparative and domestic sources are examined and solutions are proposed for many problems related to custody. As a result, it is seen that there is no legal obstacle to the implementation of joint custody in our country or to enforcement of joint custody decisions issued by foreign courts. It is concluded that custody can be decided together based on the best interest of the child and according to the characteristics of the concrete event. Many international texts, especially the European Human Rights Convention and the Child Rights Convention, and the 20th, 41st of the constitution principles such as "respect for family life", "equality", "prohibition of discrimination" and "the best interests of the child", and other related articles, allow the implementation of joint custody in our country and enforcement of joint custody decisions made by foreign courts.