Have Turkish Courts Started to Enforce Foreign Joint Custody Judgments?

Abstract

The approach of Turkish courts related to the enforcement of joint custody decisions is chang-ing in line with the international perspective. Important development and change arrive with the adoption of the “Protocol No. 7 amended with Protocol No. 11, Annex to the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms” (Protocol No. 7). Referring to this, Turkish Courts have both started to rule in favor of joint custody and started to en-force foreign joint custody judgments. The decision of the Supreme Court 2nd Legal Depart-ment, dated February 20, 2017, numbered E. 2016/15771, K. 2017/1737 has been the turning point on this. We expect that this encouraging attitude of the Supreme Court will positively affect the enforcement of foreign joint custody decisions, especially in cases where joint cus-tody is in the best interest of the child and the fact that the issue of joint custody after divorce is not regulated in Turkish Law will no longer face public policy interference. However, in order to achieve this, we are of the opinion that provisions that bring a detailed arrangement related to joint custody should be included in the “Turkish Civil Code” (TCC).