Judicial ethics in Turkey from the viewpoint of retired judges

It is well known that several professions developed spesific professional codes of conducts in Turkey. On the other hand, studies on judicial ethics in Turkey are rather recent and judicial code of conducts have still being constituted. However, judiciary is the area where the function of ethical rules are the most vital. Yet, the justice service stays at the top of the list in which all citizens are closely corcerned. It is impossible to reach justice, unless ethical principles and values dominate the judicial process. This study aims to find out the fundamental information level, perceptions and viewpoints of judges on judicial ethics. For this purpose, a field study is designed and in-depth interviews are conducted in person with retired judges in Ankara. The information level of judges on ethical concepts and fundamental legislative regulations, most frequent and most important problems in judiciary, the sources of these problems and solution suggestions for those problems, whether there is an institutional effort to make ethical values dominant, and the opinions of judges on the principles on judicial conduct are discussed via the adressed questions. This study provided an opportunity to understand the opinions and to derive suggestions of judges. Besides, some findings became prominent among several others via the analyses of the collected data. Especially, participants agreed on that judicial independence is severely damaged and needs to be reassured as soon as possible. Lastly, with also help of the findings of previous studies, some implications and suggestions have been made to build a judicial system in which ethical values are dominant.