Application evaluation of international judicial cooperation agreements in criminal matters

The concepts of crime and criminality have gained a transnational character due to the removal of country borders by today's technology, communication and transportation networks. That the states are able to complete their criminal proceedings regarding transnational crime and criminality requires them to cooperate with another state or to receive assistance from another state. In this context; requesting international judicial cooperation or assistance in criminal matters between states is in question in accordance with bilateral or multilateral agreements or on the basis of reciprocity. In our study, first of all, the concept of judicial cooperation in criminal matters will be examined and the scope of judicial cooperation, the institutions such as extradition, legal assistance, transfer of criminal investigations and prosecutions, transfer of execution and transfer of convicts, which are included in the concept, the stage of development of judicial cooperation between states, bilateral and multilateral agreements, which are the main source of this field, and national legislation and the common rules and their practices of judicial cooperation are included. In the second part of our study, implementation of works and transactions such as hearing criminal procedure subjects carried out with legal assistance in criminal matters, which is the main subject of investigation, execution of protective measures or the establishment of cross-border joint investigation teams; The international conventions that Turkey is a party to are analyzed and explained, especially the European Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. In this context; the general information about the transactions carried out through the legal assistance institution in criminal matters has been evaluated by making a distinction in terms of criminal procedure processes. The aim of our study is to reveal, as much as possible, to what extent the judicial cooperation obligations undertaken by Turkey as a party to international conventions are compatible with the current practice. Therefore, in our study, in addition to the international conventions to which our state is a party, the European Union legislation, which includes exemplary practices in the field of legal assistance before the international community, National laws on judicial cooperation of countries such as Germany and Austria, with which Turkey has extensive judicial cooperation and Law No. 6706 on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters, which came into force in 2016 and brought many innovations have been taken into account.