What is it about?
This chapter explores how financial burdens shape the practical meaning of the right to a fair trial in Turkey. By examining litigation costs, legal aid mechanisms, and procedural frameworks, it uncovers how fees, cost allocation, and the lack of affordable representation can impede citizens’ access to justice. It also evaluates recent innovations—such as mandatory mediation, online hearings, and consumer arbitration—that aim to make justice more accessible. Bridging doctrinal analysis with empirical insight, the study situates Turkey within the broader European human rights context, offering a comparative perspective valuable to scholars of civil justice reform and human rights law.
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Why is it important?
Access to justice is not merely a constitutional promise—it is the foundation of the rule of law. Yet, financial barriers such as court fees, attorney costs, and procedural expenses often determine who can effectively exercise this right. By exposing how these structural and economic constraints operate in Turkey, this study contributes to a broader understanding of inequality before the law in emerging democracies. It highlights the need for reform and offers comparative insights relevant to policymakers, judges, and scholars working on the intersection of human rights, civil procedure, and judicial efficiency.
Perspectives
For me, this chapter reflects a long-standing concern about how law, in practice, often fails those who cannot afford to use it. In Turkey—as in many jurisdictions—the right to a fair trial exists on paper, but its realization is deeply affected by the cost of pursuing or defending a claim. Writing this chapter allowed me to connect doctrinal analysis with lived realities: how filing fees, attorney tariffs, and procedural hurdles can silently exclude vulnerable groups from justice. I believe that recognizing these economic dimensions is essential if we truly wish to speak of equality before the law. My hope is that this study encourages deeper reflection and comparative dialogue on building justice systems that are both efficient and genuinely accessible.
Prof. Dr. Ersin Erdoğan
Yildirim Beyazit Universitesi
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Access to Justice and Financial Obstacles in Turkey, September 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004721494_017.
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