Enforcement of custody related foreign judgments under the light of the decisions of court of appeal

The custody related judgments rendered by foreign courts shall be required to be enforced by Turkish courts in order to be effective in Turkey. Reserving the provision of the international conventions, the enforcement of such judgments subject to certain conditions stipulated in IPPL. Certain conditions stipulated for enforcement of foreign judgments in IPPL have importance for the custody judgments. The protection of the best interest of the child is acknowledged in the custody related judgments. The judgments relating to custody are subjected to be regulated in future due to the change in circumstances for the protection of the best interest of the child. Therefore, the res judicata effect of custody judgments is different from the other judgments. However, the distinctive character of res judicata in custody judgments shall not prevent such judgments to be enforced. Furthermore, there are certain problems faced with conformity of public order in the enforcement of the custody judgments due to taking into consideration of the principle of the best interest of the child. Hence, the review to be made in order to determine whether the best interest of the child is protected, shall require the review of the judgment; however, the principle of revision au fond prevents the performing of this review. The difference between the provisions relating to custody which are regulated in Turkish law and the provisions stipulated in the legal regulations of the other states also causes the problem of whether the intervention of public order is required in the enforcement of such judgments. In our study, the fundamental principles of legal custody in Turkish law and the relevant national and international regulations are primarily reviewed; furthermore, the consequences of custody related foreign judgments are set forth by elaborating the pre-conditions and substantive conditions which are required for the enforcement of these judgments in Turkey. With this regard, the problems faced with enforcing the custody related foreign judgments are explained by exemplifying the decisions of Court of Appeal and it is provided suggestions and evaluations for the purpose of resolving the same. With this study, it is aimed to resolve the problems which are faced in practice due to the conformity to the public order in the enforcement of the foreign judgments related to the custody.