POSTGRADUATE FORENSIC-SCIENCE EDUCATION IN TURKEY

Legal medicine in Turkey, has an educational background that goes back to 1839 and the first autopsy in modem terms was performed in 1841. I n the early days, it was common practice for those involved in this wo rk to extend their investigative knowledge into areas not directly con cerned with medical matters. However forensic medical investigations c annot be entrusted in the hands of single investigators, but should ra ther be dealt with by cooperative groups of experts nowadays. This nee d was the major force for the establishment of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences by a special article of the law ( 2547) as a training and research center in 1982. The Institute being the fi rst and only institution giving master's and doctorate degrees in Fore nsic Sciences, has 3 major departments: 1) Medical Sciences Department , 2) Basic Sciences Department and 3) Social Sciences Department. Grad uates of various fields ranging from medical doctors specialized in an y field, biologists, chemists to lawyers, district attorneys, psycholo gists and other related fields are composing the multidisciplinary str ucture of the institute. The main research fields of the Institute are : population genetics, paternity investigation, child abuse, and ident ification of human remains.