A criminal judgment given in one State may have to be enforced in another, and a prosecution begun in one State may be handed over to another. These are two routes distinct from extradition and from the transfer of a sentenced person, and within the Council of Europe they have their own instruments: the 1970 Convention on the International Validity of Criminal Judgments (ETS 070) and the 1972 Convention on the Transfer of Proceedings in Criminal Matters (ETS 073). Türkiye signed both on 26 June 1974 and ratified both on 27 October 1978; both entered into force for Türkiye on 28 January 1979. Their translation provisions are built the same way, and Türkiye answered both in the same direction.
The default: no translation
Article 19(1) of ETS 070 provides that, subject to paragraph 2, no translation of requests or of supporting documents shall be required. Article 19(2) allows a Contracting State to reserve the right to require that requests and supporting documents be accompanied by a translation into its own language, into one of the official languages of the Council of Europe, or into such one of those languages as it indicates; the other Contracting States may claim reciprocity. Article 19(3) preserves translation clauses in other agreements. Article 18 of ETS 073 is built the same way, and adds that the translations go in the national language of the receiving State or in such official language of the Council of Europe as that State indicates, while making clear that such an indication is not obligatory.
Türkiye’s two declarations
Türkiye used that option twice on the same day. In its declaration of 27 October 1978 on ETS 070 it reserved the right to require requests and supporting documents to be accompanied by a translation into Turkish; in the declaration of the same date on ETS 073 it reserved the right to require a translation into Turkish for the requests made in application of that Convention. Türkiye named its own language rather than one of the Council of Europe’s official languages. A request sent to Türkiye on either route therefore travels with a Turkish translation, and because of the reciprocity rule a request leaving Türkiye may meet the same demand in the other State’s language.
One document outside the rule
ETS 073 carves out a single item: the right to require a translation does not cover the copy of the written decision referred to in Article 16(2). In a file where the receiving State has taken a decision and sends a copy of it, that copy is not caught by the translation requirement. Whether the authority conducting the case still needs to read it in its own language is a separate, practical question.
The diplomatic channel
As a rule both conventions run between ministries of justice (ETS 070 Article 15(1); ETS 073 Article 13(1)). Türkiye declared otherwise in both: under Article 15(3) and Article 13(3) respectively, the request for enforcement or for performance and the communications necessary for the application of the Convention are sent through diplomatic channels. A file prepared abroad therefore reaches Türkiye through that channel, and the translation is in it before it leaves.
No authentication, no refund of expenses
Evidence and documents transmitted under ETS 070 need not be authenticated (Article 20), and the same holds under ETS 073 (Article 19). A consular certificate on the original is not a requirement of these routes; the layer the file does carry is the Turkish translation Türkiye asks for. On cost both instruments use one short rule: the States claim no refund of expenses from each other (ETS 070 Article 14; ETS 073 Article 20). Neither has an article on the cost of a translation.
Which States are actually bound
The reach of these two conventions is narrow among the States that appear most often in Turkish files. Of the twenty-three parties to ETS 070, Belgium is one, bound since 1 October 2010; France and Switzerland are not parties, and Luxembourg and Germany have only signed. Belgium’s declaration under Article 19(2) asks for a translation into French, Dutch, German or English, which is what a Turkish request towards Belgium has to meet. Among the twenty-five parties to ETS 073 there is no France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg or Germany, and the United States and Canada are parties to neither instrument.
Turkish domestic law
Law No. 6706 on international judicial cooperation in criminal matters leaves in place the international agreements to which Türkiye is a party (Article 1(3)). On the transfer of an investigation or a prosecution, Article 24(2) has the request accompanied by a copy of the investigation or prosecution file and, where necessary, its translation. In a relationship with a party to ETS 073, that open wording is read together with Türkiye’s declaration and with any declaration of the other State. Acte Tercüme translates requests and supporting documents on these two routes into Turkish, and Turkish files on enforcement or on a transferred prosecution into English or French.