Diyarbakır courthouse to provide translators in four languages

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

AA Photo

A new system has been established at the Diyarbakır Courthouse that will provide services in four different languages.

As part of the system, personnel will be able to provide translation services in Kurdish (Kurmanci dialect), Arabic, English and Zazaki for people who do not speak Turkish.

Chief Public Prosecutor Ramazan Solmaz said the system was developed with the support of the Justice Ministry in order to provide a better and faster service to citizens.

 “The most important thing for us is to ease access to our services,” Solmaz said. 

“We want to make sure that citizens are able to complete their processes without having to ask for the help of third parties. Our citizens who cannot express themselves in Turkish will receive help in a way they can explain themselves,” he said.

The new personnel, whose post will be at the information bureau located at entrance of the courthouse, will assist people who do not speak Turkish, accompanying them until they leave the courthouse. Leaflets with instructions about the new system will also be provided to people.

“Leaflets will be distributed to police stations and citizens will be informed about their rights. The aim is to make sure that citizens get their processes done in a very short time. There will be TV screens that will show information about the system; people will be able to see it on the screens when their turn comes and will be able to appeal to the bureau directly. They will also find their way through the courthouse easily through the room numbers on the floors. There will also be a nursing room for women with children,” he said.

The total cost of the project is 790,000 Turkish Liras ($263,000), the chief public prosecutor added.

The head of the Justice Commission, Cihan Kart, said they aimed to ensure individuals could access the justice system through a practical and fast way and that personnel work better and with full efficiency.

The location chosen for the new system at the courthouse is part of a court that was built for the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case trials in 2009. The KCK is an umbrella organizations that includes the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). In the KCK case, 1,800 people, most of whom were Kurdish politicians, were detained between April 2009 and October 2010. Many of them refused to testify in Turkish and the laws were amended in 2013 to allow people to testify in court in Kurdish and other languages. The KCK trials are still continuing.