specialized courts for certain legal areas: Cadastral courts Commercial courts Consumer courts Enforcement courts Family courts Intellectual and industrial property courts Labour courts Criminal courts Criminal courts look at cases related to subjects like assault, robbery, murder, arson and rape. Even though the penalties are no longer divided into light and heavy sentences, the criminal courts still are named according to the penalties they were entitled to pass. Penal courts of first instance (or simply penal courts, asliye ceza) are courts with a single judge deciding on minor cases. There is one in every city and in every district, sometimes divided into several branches according to the need and population. The heavy penal courts (Interpol terms them Central Criminal Courts) consist of a presiding judge and two members with a public prosecutor. Offenses and crimes involving a penalty of over five years of imprisonment are under the jurisdiction of these courts of which there is one in every city, but it is sometimes divided into several branches according to the need and population. Administrative courts Administrative courts (idari mahkemeler) exist at provincial level. The next instance are regional administrative courts (bölge idari mahkemeleri). Administrative courts solved cases involving probate, bankruptcy, and citizenship matters. Tax and family law were handled in separate courts. The highest administrative court in Turkey is the Turkish Council of State (Danıştay also called Supreme Administrative Court) or, equivalent to a federal supreme administrative court such as the Conseil d'Etat in France or the Federal Administrative Court of Germany (Bundesverwaltungsgericht). Others Court of Accounts The Court of Accounts (Sayıştay) is Turkey's supreme audit institution charged with auditing, on behalf of the Parliament, all accounts related to the revenues, expenditures and property of government departments financed by general and subsidiary budgets. No applications for judicial review of its decisions shall be filed in administrative courts. There's a debate on whether Sayıştay is a supreme court, or even a court in the strictest sense. The Turkish constitution is said to contradict with itself by not listing Sayıştay amongst supreme courts in articles 146-159 while allowing no appeals to most of its decisions, effectively giving it supreme court power. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) In certain disputes, the parties are not permitted by law to apply to court before exhausting alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes, whereas in some other disputes, the parties can voluntarily apply to have their dispute settled through