Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out the importance of Kahramanmaraş CCI taking initiative and establishing the Mediation and Arbitration Center and said, “We’ve complained about the slowness of the judiciary system as the Turkish business community for many years. We shouldn’t look to blame the courts here. The workload of the judiciary system in Turkey is increasing day by day. This slows down and lowers quality of the system. Justice, when not manifested in a timely and accurate fashion, diminishes trust in the justice system.”

Pointing out that a judge's average annual workload is 200 cases in Europe while in Turkey this figure is 700-800, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that courts handle about 7 million cases every year, of which that 4 million of adjudicated, 3 million cases are postponed to the next year.

Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized the fact that the length of time for cases between the arrival to court decision increased from 250 days to 450 days in the last 5 years.

Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We lose almost 99.2% of the cases in the labor courts as the Turkish business community. What is right is to give everyone their due. This is where mediation comes in. At the foundation of mediation lies Akhism. In the UK, only 2% of the cases come to court. A case which would last a year in court is solved in a single day of mediation.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, stated that the business community has dreamed for years of alternative solutions in Turkey and, finally, the system is being adopting in Turkey with the initiative of the Ministry of Justice, “We see mediation as a quick access to fairness. In the settlement of the disputes between the employer and the employee, mediation will hasten the process.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said the number of cases, 70,000 in the first 3 months of last year, fell to 7,000 in the same period of this year, burden of the courts has decreased by 90% since January 2018. Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the workloads of the courts will decrease through mediation. 22,000 disputes went to mediation, and 68% of the cases were concluded. Commercial disputes should go to arbitration instead of court. According to commercial arbitration, commercial disputes are being resolved 6 months at most.

After the speeches, the ribbon was cut and the opening of the Mediation and Arbitration Center was held. Kahramanmaraş Governor Vahdettin Özkan and Kahramanmaraş Parliamentary Representative Celalettin Güvenç attended the ceremony.

KMCCI Chair Serdar Zabun and KMCCI Council Speaker Hanefi Öksüz presented Hisarcıklıoğlu with a wooden carving frame unique to Kahramanmaraş.