The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) urged for the immediate release of Selahattin Demirtaş and other political prisoners in Turkey insisting that the European Court of Human Rights judgment means that the Turkish authorities must release him immediately.
MEPs held urgent debates on the human rights situation in Turkey, notably the case of jailed former Co-Chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş and other prisoners of conscience on 21 January.
The European Parliament passed a resolution by 590 votes to 16 calling for the implementation of the ECHR binding ruling on Demirtaş and that he and other political prisoners should be released immediately.
Having regard to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Grand Chamber of 22 December 2020 in the case of Demirtaş v Turkey (14305/17) and o the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) of 20 November 2018 in the case of Demirtaş v Turkey, the European Parliament called for Demirtaş’s immediate and unconditional release from detention in compliance with the 2018 judgment of the ECHR and confirmed by the ruling of its Grand Chamber of 22 December 2020 and to drop all charges against him and Figen Yüksekdağ, former co-chairs of the opposition HDP and the other imprisoned members of the party.
The European Parliament stressed that the Turkish authorities must let them exercise their democratic mandates, independently and free from threats and impediments and reiterated its support to all those who continue to work to end these and other cases of sheer injustice and to return Turkey to the path of a fully-fledged democracy.
The European Parliament also reminded the Turkish authorities that their failure to release Demirtaş constitutes a direct violation of European Court Human Rights and of its domestic law, calling it an unjustifiable prolongation of the violation of M Demirtaş’s rights and a blatant breach of Turkey’s obligation to implement the rulings of the ECHR.
