Interpretation and Expert Witness Services in Judicial Units: According to Turkish Penal Code (No: 5237), if a suspect / defendant is a person with hearing and speech disability or a person with disabilities concerning inability to express themselves, a public defender shall be appointed without request. However, there is no provision in the law regarding the appointment of a sign language interpreter to communicate with the defense counsel and the suspect/defendant and to enable the suspect/defendant to use the right to defense effectively. In the Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK), there is a provision for defendants with disabilities or victims to be informed in a manner in which they are able to understand the main points about the claim and defense in the hearing. However, this provision only covers hearings and defendants. There is no provision in the investigation stage for the appointment of an interpreter to the victims and/or defendants with disabilities. Interpretation is not effective enough for the persons with hearing disabilities. There is no established criteria for the selection of experts in translation. It is frequently mentioned by persons with hearing impairment that sign language interpreters are not sufficiently professional. For example, the criteria declared by the Istanbul Courthouse in 2019 are as follows: “4. The originals or the commission approved copies of documents such as diploma, licence, certificate related to the language, languages or sign language for which the person wants to be an interpreter for (Unapproved copies will be approved by the Commission upon examination of originals). If no such document exists, a written declaration is required separately for each language known to the extent which interpretation can be done for (Appendix-2).” If the interpreter does not have certificates and/or diplomas, a written declaration which says “I can do this” is accepted as sufficient. The same applies to the experts appointed to the cases. There is no established criteria for the experts. It is not taken into account whether the experts who will work in the cases concerning disability, are aware of the Convention or informed about disability rights. Legal Capacity of Persons with Disabilities: The appointment of a guardian which leads to the restriction of legal capacity of persons with disabilities can cause violations of rights in cases of malicious use. According to Article 409 of the Civil Code (No: 4721) entitled states that restriction of legal capacity due to “mental illness” or “mental weakness” can only be decided upon an report from an official medical board. The provision also states, “The judge, before issuing a judgment, “may” request to hear the person under consideration, regarding the medical board report.” which means that in appointment of a guardian and thereby restricting legal capacity, the law allows judges to prioritize the medical board’s report. This legal provision does not oblige the judge to hear to the person under consideration. 15