Prof. Adem Sözüer

Istanbul University

Adem Sözüer, has played a fundamental role in achieving reforms within the harmonization of the legislation in the frame of Turkey’s EU access process. In terms of education, the department offers the students substantive, special part and procedural criminal law lectures among the wide range of elective courses such as medical law, environmental law, media law, penal execution law, and criminology etc. What’s more, it publishes twice a year the Journal of Penal Law and Criminology since 1978 which is open access and today internationally indexed both in web of science (ESCI) and Turkish National Index (ULAKBIM). The Journal has taken its place as a prestigious journal in Turkey and among International colleagues as well. Every year, the department organizes a criminal law congress on the date on which the Criminal Code after the reform process in 2005 was taken in force. Further, it hosts the seminar program on “comparative criminal law and criminology” as well as a summer school called “Law on the Bosphorus”. Since 2011, the department organizes an international film festival, International Crime and Punishment Film Festival which started in 2011 for the first time under the guidance of Istanbul University – Faculty of Law, has created a wide scientific discussion platform with the representatives of cinema, law, psychology, sociology, political science, and non-governmental organizations, by meeting the justice-themed films from the world cinema with the audience. The 2019’s year topic was determined as justice in the virtual world. The department, indeed, takes aim to conduct high quality comparative criminal law studies in the various theme and levels. At the outset, the department has earlier involved in activities on the issues of the digital age. As a matter of fact, the department’s last year-2019- edition of the International Crime and Punishment Film Festival’s theme was determined as Justice in the Virtual World. Consequently, this was an initial international experience on the theme of digitization of the key persons involved in this project. Secondly, the key persons have gotten involved in a remarkable amount of comparative criminal law activities and projects both inside and outside of Turkey, in particular with German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean and Japan. They are accustomed to some certain comparative analysis methods following a functional, legislative, cultural- related and evaluative- competitive. In particular, a German-Turkish- Hungarian common project will enable the participants to go beyond those comparative methods that are urged by the digital age. Thirdly, the people who will be part of this project particularly has been the focus on themes which today challenges the modern criminal law in their academic works and activities. Prof. Sözüer broadcast videos on YouTube Channel. He has a professional team to produce these videos. The same team also produces videos and short-films for International Crime and Punishment Film Festival.