The Turkish Cypriot Legal System from a Historical ... - Ankara Barosu

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Court of Nicosia also operates in other areas such as Lefke and Iskele
(Trikomo). These courts are composed of two or at most three judges.
However in practice, they operate with two judges, the more senior of
who acts as the president. Cases with an object of litigation of 5.000
Turkish Liras or more fall under their jurisdiction. The president has
the power to conduct a hearing at his own initiative if the object does
not exceed 15,000 Turkish Liras. “Senior District Court Judge” and
“District Court Judge” conduct hearings on their own, and have the
power to hear cases not exceeding 15,000 TL and 5,000 TL, respectively.
As a matter of fact, it should be noted that Cyprus is a small
country divided into only six districts, with a total of 31 judges operating
in all courts throughout the country. 93
b) Criminal Courts
Lower courts that operate in criminal matters are divided into three
subgroups: “High Criminal Courts”, “District Courts” and “Juvenile
Courts”. High Criminal Courts are established only in Nicosia, Famagusta
and Kyrenia. They are normally composed of a president and
two judges appointed by the High Court. However in practice, the
hearings are conducted with three district court members. An exception
to this tradition is cases where the defendant is being alleged with
a crime that necessitates capital punishment, then the president of the
district court chairs the court board. High criminal courts are entitled
to hear cases where the punishment is more than 5 years of prison
penalty or 2,000 TL of pecuniary penalty. These courts also have the
power to assess damages of up to 15,000 TL in favor of the persons
injured due to the crime. In districts with no established High Criminal
Courts and during the judiciary recess between July 1 and September
14, the cases are heard by mobile field courts. District Courts hearing
criminal cases are composed of one judge, and are entitled to hear
cases that call for a prison penalty of less than five years or pecuniary
penalties not exceeding 5000 TL. 94
Another court related with the criminal law is the Juvenile Court established
according to the “Code of Juvenile Criminals”. These courts
are entitled to try juvenile defendants of younger than 16 years of age.
They are composed of a single judge, namely the district court judge.
They practice special trial procedures which involve barring the entry
of spectators and the press to the hearing room. 95
c) Family Courts
Family Courts appear in accordance with the historical development
of the Turkish Cypriot legal system. Disputes related to family
law had been excluded from the jurisdiction of general courts since the
93 See http://www.mahkemeler.net; DAYIOĞLU, pp. 65-66.
94 DAYIOĞLU, p. 66. Also see http://www.mahkemeler.net.
95 DAYIOĞLU, p. 67.