A delegation from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party held a series of high-level meetings with key Council of Europe (CoE) officials in Strasbourg, France, focusing on Turkey’s worsening political repression and human rights violations. The meetings focused on Turkey’s refusal to implement the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in particular in the cases of Osman Kavala, Selahattin Demirtaş, Figen Yüksekdağ, as well as concerns about the country’s wider crackdown on political opposition.
The DEM Party representatives also highlighted the situation of Kurdistan Workers’ Party leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned for 25 years on the island of İmralı, and pointed out he was being denied the ‘right to hope’ for release, which all prisoners are entitled to.
During the DEM party’s visit, Andrej Hunko, representative of the Left Group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and Paul Gavan, a representative of Sinn Féin, gave interviews in which they strongly criticised Turkey’s disregard for ECHR rulings.
“Every state that is a member of Europe must respect the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights,” Hunko said in an interview with Medya Haber. Noting that Turkey has consistently ignored the Court’s rulings on Kavala, Demirtaş and Öcalan, he added, “A member state cannot refuse to respect these rulings, otherwise it cannot remain in the Council of Europe.”
Hunko also pointed to the limitations of international law, stressing that there are courts, but they have no executive power, which turns legal issues into political debates between states. He called for more action from the CoE, in particular from its newly appointed Secretary General, Alain Berset.
Paul Gavan condemned the inaction of the Committee of Ministers, which he said had delayed action on Turkey’s violations for more than a decade. “The Committee of Ministers has decided to put off any action and have given Turkey a further 12 months to deal with this issue of “the right to hope” in relation to this aggravated life sentence for Öcalan and indeed now thousands of other prisoners. To my mind it is entirely unacceptable”, Gavan said.
Gavan continued, underlining the gravity of the situation: “This is a human rights institution. We’ve been waiting for over 10 years for action on these cases, and yet there’s still no guarantee that the Committee won’t put them off again after this extended period. To me, this is an abdication of their responsibilities. It’s stalling in the most fundamental way the European Convention on Human Rights, the very framework upon which this institution is built”. He continued, “We must call out the huge double standards and hypocrisy at play here. In some cases, this institution is very strong in defending rights, but when it comes to Turkey, it effectively turns its face away”.
Gavan also addressed the need for political will, stating: “There are procedures that we can use here to challenge Turkey on its failure to implement changes and uphold the rights of Öcalan and so many others. What is lacking is the political will to take action. We must call this out and it’s our obligation to ensure that Turkey is held accountable for its ongoing human rights abuses”.
These statements draw strong attention to Turkey’s deteriorating human rights record, political repression and the lack of accountability.
