10.10.2023 İstanbul
The Judiciary and Business Symposium was held at the Haliç Congress Center with the participation of Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and the İstanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) President Şekib Avdagiç.
At the opening of the
symposium, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said that as the real sector, they
attach importance to consultation with the judicial community and see the legal
system as the pillar not only of the state but also of the economy.
Hisarcıklıoğlu said,
“We endeavor to popularize methods such as arbitration and mediation, which
will reduce the workload in the judiciary and ensure that justice is
administered in a timely and correct manner, in our country and in our business
world.”
Reminding that they
established UYUM Mediation and Dispute Resolution Center within TOBB,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “With TOBB UYUM Academy, we provide trainings to mediators
in every field they need. Our chambers also embraced this issue and opened
centers within their own bodies and made mediation widespread.”
Pointing out that time
is the most important capital in commercial life, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that
every regulation that will facilitate trade, strengthen the economy and the
judicial system is important and valuable for them.
Stating that in
developed economies, 75 percent of commercial disputes are concluded with
alternative dispute resolution methods, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they have
ensured the widespread use of arbitration.
Hisarcıklıoğlu said,
“Arbitration also provides a fast, specialized, flexible and less costly judicial
service that responds to the needs of commercial life. It is executed through
enforcement offices just like court decisions. The parties can freely choose
the expert arbitrator or arbitrators.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu said,
“In the past, foreign direct investment in Türkiye did not exceed 1 billion
dollars a year. With the effect of our government adding arbitration to our
national legislation, Türkiye's attractiveness in the eyes of investors has
increased. Incoming foreign direct investment has reached an annual average of
10 billion dollars.”
Pointing out that
arbitration is an important issue for the business world, Hisarcıklıoğlu said
“As businessmen, we
want to be safe while establishing our business connections. Because trade and
investment means taking risks. When you do this in another country, this risk
becomes even bigger. Because there are different legislation and different
practices in each country. It is not possible for investors to know all of
these. This reduces the appetite for trade and investment. In the event of any
dispute, having an application authority such as arbitration with clear rules
from the beginning protects all parties. It makes that country more attractive
to business people. For this reason, arbitration has become one of the
indispensable conditions for doing business.”
- “As the real sector, we support every regulation that
will strengthen the judicial system”
TOBB President Rifat
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that when the law is strong, people's trust in each
other, institutions and the system increases.
Stating that when the
sense of justice and trust is strong in a country, the economy of that country
is also strong, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “In fact, the place of law is very
important in our culture and belief. We want a Türkiye where the just is
strong, not the strong is right. That is why we must maintain the balance of
the scales of justice.”
Pointing out that in
order for the market economy to function fully, the state must guarantee the
rights of individuals to life, property and free entrepreneurship,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Both democracy and market economy are based on
indispensable fundamental rights and freedoms. The principles of property
rights, freedom of trade, freedom of contract and equality before the law are
indispensable conditions for the establishment of a market economy based on
competition.”
Pointing out that the
most fundamental virtue of individual and social life is justice,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the existence and continuity of states also depends on
justice, and for this reason, justice has been at the center of both religions
and secular ideologies throughout history.
Stating that the
prerequisite for ensuring justice is the independence and impartiality of the
judiciary, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The more successful we are in making our legal
system healthier, the stronger our country and economy will become. Therefore,
as the real sector, we have supported and support every regulation that will
strengthen the judicial system and increase its capacity and effectiveness.”
- Minister of Justice Tunç: “Our success in mediation is
gradually increasing”
Minister of Justice
Yılmaz Tunç said that the Turkish business world is again focusing on
production, employment and investment against many problems, especially the pandemic.
Minister Tunç said,
“Our factories did not stop, our wheels continued to turn. We continued to
break export records, we continued to increase employment, and we continue to
make new agreements.”
Minister Tunç said, “If
we have become a country that has reached an export potential of more than 250
billion dollars under the leadership of our President today, from a country
with an export of 36 billion dollars 21 years ago, this is thanks to you, our
valuable investors, thanks to your production and thanks to the security of law
that provides this environment. It is time to make a new, democratic,
libertarian, civilian and inclusive constitution that will make the Turkish
Century the century of justice, crown all these democratic reforms, and bury the
tutelary understanding in history.”
Minister Tunç reminded
that lease disputes, disputes arising from neighborhood law, disputes arising
from condominium ownership, disputes arising from the elimination of
partnership and disputes arising from agricultural service contracts were
included in the scope of mandatory mediation as a condition of litigation as of
September 1, 2023, which entered the law as voluntary mediation in 2013 and
continued as a condition of litigation in labor law, commercial cases and consumer
cases after 2018.
Tunç said, “Our success
in mediation has been increasing since 2013. Our lawyers who serve as mediators
have a great role in this success.”
Minister Tunç continued
his remarks as follows: “In the last 10 years, there have been 4,770,000 mediation
applications, of which 3,100,000, or 70 percent, have resulted in an agreement.
Of course, we see that this rate is 99 percent success in voluntary mediation
and 49 percent in mandatory mediation. Considering that a court handles 500
cases a year, if the 3 million files that resulted in an agreement had been
transferred to the judiciary, 600 additional courts would have been needed
every year. We are pleased to see that the rate of agreement is higher than the
rate of disagreement in rent disputes, which we have included within the scope
of mandatory mediation with our latest practice. As of September 1st,
4,169 disputes out of 32,197 files submitted to the mediator in rent disputes
were concluded with an agreement. 3,015 disputes were referred to the court due
to lack of agreement. This shows us that the number of agreements is higher
than the number of disagreements. These are the first fruits of the mediation
practice regarding disputes arising from the lease relationship. I believe that
we will hopefully get much more efficient results in the future. We will
continue to expand the scope of the mediation system in the coming period.”
- “It is the legal infrastructure that both contracts and
expands the economy and trade”
ITO President Avdagiç
stated that law is the most important institution of a nation that is passed
down from generation to generation and includes everything from cultural codes
to economic mentality.
Pointing out that the
friendship between law and economy should be re-established, Avdagiç said, “Our
law contains our past trade codes. All that remains is to translate this spirit
into the language and understanding of the day.”
Avdagiç stated that it
is the legal infrastructure that both shrinks and expands the economy and trade,
and continued as follows: “The more your legal infrastructure protects
investment and investors, production and producers, trade and traders, the more
your economy grows. It becomes a center of attraction for both domestic and
foreign investors. The more elaborate, the more restrictive, the more
production-binding your legal infrastructure is, the more you will turn into a
barren country.”
Pointing out that the
legal system should be transparent, fast, fair and predictable, Avdagiç stated
that the legal reform is a process and should therefore be continued.
Avdagiç emphasized that
it is of utmost importance that judicial processes are digitized and made
compatible with the age and noted that intellectual property rights, which
means “protecting and promoting development, entrepreneurship and innovation”,
must be meticulously protected.
Stating that the
protection of intellectual property rights will pave the way for the business
world, Avdagiç pointed out that the number and quality of intellectual property
courts should be increased and that it is essential to strengthen the
technological infrastructure.
Stating that the
establishment of special advisory centers that will guide foreign investors in
legal transactions will contribute to attracting more investors to Türkiye,
Avdagiç said, “These centers can perform tasks such as informing, advising,
guiding with official information and documents and representing foreign
investors on issues such as legislation, tax, incentives, incentives, permits,
licenses, contracts in Türkiye.”