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anticipatory way. Okay. Thank you. Out of fairness, I will give the floor to
the Chief Ombudsman was asked the floor and then in order to be fair, I’ve
seen a hand I will go to a lady because fairness implies also a balance in
gender. Thank you. Chief Ombudsman?

M. NİHAT ÖMEROĞLU (Chief Ombudsman of Turkey)

First of all, I would like to thank esteemed chair and my friend
Nikiforos Diamandouros for attending this symposium as well as other
Ombudspeople.
Mr. Nikiforos has contributed to the legislative work before and after
the establishment of our instruction and he has been providing his
best input for 3 years including the composition of this symposium.
In your presence, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to him.

I took pleasure in attentively following the presentations and
contributions by the panelists and the participants. Due to a
commitment scheduled yesterday for live media coverage at “Voice of
Turkey Radio”, I would like to apologize to Prof. Aydın because I was
curious about his presentation. I am always open to criticism and his
critics open new horizons on my side and I missed that opportunity
while away for the live broadcast. I appreciate if I could have a written
copy of his paper if he has it available. 3 rd INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTIONS
And I would like thank all.

I am sure that Mr. Diamandouros will remember. In 2013, when I
visited him Strasbourg, he granted support and demonstrated close
interest. Back then, judiciary aspect was raised. As Lutkovska said, I
expressed my opinion regarding “intervention into court process”. As
an experienced scientist, I mean as a political scientist, he told me that
`I am brave and I said ` judiciary was nothing to be afraid of and we
all respect law“. Thus, we had such an anecdote and we worked on it.
Maybe, sometime has passed already but since it is a vital topic, I felt an
urge to talk about it. Especially, I want to underline that I am a former
judge who worked for 39 years at peace courts, criminal courts as a
court president and later at the Court of Cassation. So, I believe that I
know judiciary. At the end of 3 to 5 years or when the time comes, our
fellows who are a member of judiciary will leave the courts and courts
will be needed and so will the citizens.

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