Turkey's long-running efforts at judicial reform are delivering genuine improvements, speakers at a policy dialogue agreed, but these positive steps had been piecemeal and had still not been translated into public trust. Legislative changes need to be reinforced by a change of mentality - starting in the nation's law faculties.

EPC Policy Analyst Amanda Paul chairing the event said judicial reform had been a Turkish target for at least a decade, delivering many packages of constitutional amendments and, most recently, a "democratisation package” in September 2013. But judicial reform had been at best patchy, with Turkey taking a step forward, a step sideways and then a step backwards.