Getting arrested in a foreign country may cause a lot of distress for both the arrested person and his/her close relatives for several reasons. While the language barrier hinders to understand the ongoing situation neither the detainee nor their relatives knows anything about the Turkish law and the system. This mini article aims to briefly inform arrested person and the close relatives of the arrested person.

According to the Turkish Criminal Procedure Code an arrest begins with custody which means the temporary restriction and detention of the person in order to complete the proceedings against the arrested person in a manner that will not harm his / her health within the legal period until the decision of release before the competent judge or according to the prosecution. This phase is at utmost importance because the statement of the detainee is taken at this stage which determines whether the detainee will be arrested or not. In other words a precondition for an arrest is custody which can last up to 24 hours unless there is a collective crime or crime of terror at hand then the custody may be prolonged up to four days. During this 24-hour duration it is important to have access to an attorney who is experienced in criminal law and who has advanced language skills so that a healthy communication between the client and the attorney can be established.

To briefly explain the arrest – custody procedure in Turkey; the arrested person will be taken to a doctor’s examination so that his/her health condition is determined before taking someone in detention room. The aim is to hinder both allegations and actions of any kind of torture and ill-treatment. Therefor the suspect is mandated to be taken to a doctor’s examination both before the detention and the exit procedures are being carried out. An attorney will ensure that there hasn’t been any kind of torture and ill-treatment by being able to meet the detainee in a private room where the detainee can freely express him/herself. Before the formal statement is taken the attorney informs the detainee of his/her rights, listens to his/her complaints, and prepares the detainee for the formal statement while preparing a defense. Therefor it is very important for the attorney to have a good command in English and to have experience in working with foreign clients.