Turkey invested as little as 15.6 euros ($17) per capita in its judicial system in 2022, while the average judicial budget of the 44 Council of Europe (CoE) states was 85.4 euros ($93), Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service (DW Türkçe) reported on Wednesday, citing an evaluation report by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ).
The 2024 edition of the CEPEJ report, titled “European judicial systems — CEPEJ Evaluation Report,” is based on statistics from the year 2022. It contains data and analyses on the functioning of the judicial systems of 44 European states and two observer states (Israel and Morocco), making it possible to measure the effectiveness and quality of these systems.
The judicial system budget, as defined by the CEPEJ, includes budgets allocated to courts, public prosecution services and legal aid.
According to the report among all European countries Switzerland allocates the largest amount of money to its judicial system, 245.6 euros per capita. It is followed by Monaco with 217.4 euros and Luxembourg with 193 euros.
The CoE member countries that allocate the least amount of public funding to their judicial systems per capita are Georgia with 14.5 euros, Turkey with 15.6 euros and Albania with 15.8 euros.
Turkey’s legal aid budget per inhabitant, 1.15 euros, is also below the CoE average of 10 euros.
The report finds a well-structured and adequately funded judicial system budget essential for a reliable and efficient justice, saying that financial stability and sustainability ensure judicial independence, allowing judges to make decisions without influence.
“Adequate funding also contributes to efficient court operations, timely case processing, and strengthening access to justice. It also supports legal aid services and promotes better access to justice,” the report says.
Turkish judicial officials frequently face allegations of corruption and bribery as well as widespread criticism for their perceived lack of independence under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government.
With regard to the number of judges and prosecutors, Turkey is cited in the lower ranks in the CEPEJ report, which shows that there are only 17 judges and eight prosecutors for every 100,000 people in the country. The European average per 100,000 people is 22 judges and 12 prosecutors.
In Europe, 43 percent of judges are male while 57 percent are female. In Turkey, 53 percent of judges are male and 47 percent of them are female. However, women are the majority among judges in the highest instance with 60.7 percent, the report said, adding that female court presidents constitute 15 percent of the total.
The figures further revealed that a judge who is at the beginning of their career in Europe makes a yearly gross salary of around 60,750 euros and a higher judge earns as much as 115,733 euros, while a new judge earns around a 16,079 euro gross salary in Turkey and a senior judge earns 29,370 euros.
The functioning of the judicial system in Turkey is found to be problematic by many, especially after a failed coup in July 2016, when more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors were removed on the pretext of an anti-coup fight. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is accused of replacing the purged judiciary members with young and inexperienced judges and prosecutors who have close links to the AKP.