Evaluation on the reform of High Council of Judges and Prosecutors in Turkey within the context of Council of Europe criteria aiming at judicial i̇ndependence

The aim of this study is to try to embody to what extent the changes in the structure of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HCJP) have contributed Turkey's progression on the way to become a state of law. In accordiance with this problematic, within comperative method, it has been examined that to what extent the reform of the HCJP overlaps the standards concerning to judicial independence that takes place in the documents of European Union. Whilst doing it so, the fundamental documents of European Council that are concerning judicial independence (CCJE, Venice Commission and ENCJ Reports), European Union members' applications, European Union Progression reports and European Union consultative reports have been grounded on. With the aim of assessing the reform of the HCJP; As the questions of the study; What does the concepts of State of law and judicial independence mean?, What are the fundamental qualities of higher judicial institutions?, How is the historical development of State of law and judicial independence?, How is European Union structured?, What are the qualities of model judical units of European Union member countries; To what extent are the changes in the structure of the HCJP right after Constitutional amendment which took place 2010, are in accordance with the fundamental documents concerning judicial independence of Eurepean Union and How much are these changes in accordance with the models of judical units of European Union member countries and finally What are the contributions of the latest structure of HCJP to the process of judicial independence in Turkey. With the aim of answering defined questions; On Chapter 1, State of Law, separation of Powers, the meanings of concepts, content, elements and historical development of judicial independence are each examined below separate titles and it has been tried to create a conceptual background. On chapter 2, specifying to Turkey, the historical development of following concepts; state of law, separation of Powers, judicial independence and higher judicial council are examined. Therefore, at the current situation, which is the fundamental question, that the constitutional reform in 2010 has brought us, it is aimed to ground on past experiences and to embody the knowledge concerning to this point. On chapter 3, the structure of European Council, the reason of its being, its applications and its declared reports and documents with the aim of establishing judicial independence have all been examined. Furthermore, the comparision of higher judicial units of European Union member countries has been made. So that, it is aimed to define the similarities between the latest structure of the HCJP and the models that have been thought to be functioning well. Moreover, since the standards concerning to judicial independence formed by European Union have constantly been used by cross references in EU acquis, EU documents have also been included in the comparision mentioned above. On Chapter 4, to what extent the structure of the HCJP has changed through the Constitutional Reform in 2010, what the innovations are, after discussing what criticism was made before the reform, to what extent the reform faces the criticism involving in EU and European Council documents have all been examined. At the result of this study where mainly descriptive method is used; main conclussion is; the new structure of HCJP designed through the Constitutional Reform in 2010 is close to the Venice Commission and to the models stated in European Union reports, the ideal of judicial independence has at least been met on the theory. As an another conclussion based on this, it is necessary to focus on to what extent Structurally well designed HCJP serves to judicial independence in practice. Accordingly, it could be concluded that the problems within 6 years of practice are related to reforms, made in judicial and fundamental rights, not being internalized yet rather than systemtical errors or setbacks in the latest structure of HCJP. As a result it could also be stated that within the scope of European Council countries, higher judicial board is almost at the point of a certain acceptancy. Key Words: State of Law, Judicial Independence, HCJP, European Commission For Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission), Constitutional Reform in 2010