The first annual “International Fair Trial Day” (IFTD) took place this 14 June 2021. Several international bar associations and lawyers' organisations have come together to organise this annual event. The focus country chosen for the inaugural International Fair Trial Day was Turkey.

The IFTD Ebru Timtik Award created for this occasion recognises an individual or an organisation who makes or has made an exceptional contribution towards securing fair trial rights in the country on which the IFTD focuses on that specific year. The first one was symbolically awarded to the late Turkish lawyer Ebru Timtik.

As a keynote speaker, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Diego Garcia-Sayan, stressed the crucial importance of the right to a fair trial in democratic societies governed by the Rule of Law.

Following the inaugural IFTD this 14 June the Steering Group issued a statement, signed by the ECBA and other supporting organisations, that includes a call for specific actions to be taken in Turkey to protect and promote the right to a fair trial in the country.