European rights body says Turkey violated own constitution in post-coup crackdown


Date posted: December 9, 2016

Turkey violated its own constitution and international law in the widespread crackdown following July’s failed coup, the Council of Europe said in a statement on Friday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has faced stern criticism in particular from the European Union for the hugely controversial purge of public bodies that has seen 37,000 people arrested and tens of thousands more sacked.

While the CoE’s Venice Commission — a advisory body made up of constitutional law experts — acknowledged that Turkey had faced “a dangerous armed conspiracy” and had “good reasons” to declare its state of emergency, Erdogan’s government “went beyond what is permitted by the Turkish Constitution and by international law”.

The commission said that the government had not referred to “verifiable evidence” in the collective dismissals of tens of thousands of public servants, which “were not accompanied even by a minimum of procedural safeguards”.

“Such method of purging the State apparatus creates a strong appearance of arbitrariness,” the experts added.

Many of the arrests and sackings have been justified by supposed links to the movement of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, which Turkey considers a terrorist organisation.

However, the commission found that such links had been “too loosely defined and did not require a meaningful connection” to the Gulen movement that could “reasonably cast doubt” on the loyalty of public servants.

It added that such vague connections mostly did not amount to “criminal and disciplinary liability”.

The experts decried the fact that civil servants were sacked rather than suspended and that associations were liquidated rather than put under temporary State control.

The commission expressed concern that the Turkish constitutional court lacked the power to “thoroughly review the constitutionality of the emergency decree laws, as it should” have.

It also criticised a provision granting law-enforcement bodies the power to detain suspects in custody without judicial review for up to 30 days.

“The commission supports a proposal made by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, concerning the creation of an independent ad hoc body for the examination of individual cases of dismissals, subject to subsequent judicial review.”

The Council of Europe is a pan-European body made up of 47 countries, Turkey amongst them, including 28 from the EU.

It describes itself as Europe’s leading human rights organisation and all its members have signed the European Convention on Human Rights.

Source: Middle East Online , December 9, 2016


Related News

Top court annuls controversial law on prep school closure

Turkey’s Constitutional Court has annulled a controversial law seeking to close down dershanes, or private preparatory schools, in a landmark ruling that will influence the lives and futures of millions of students, parents and teachers across the country.

Victim: We are being a subject to genocide

There’s a dramatic increase spotted in the number of victims of Erdoğan’s authoritarian regime in Turkey, aimed at extermination of the followers of so-called Hizmet Movement.

Gülen’s Lawyer Albayrak: Evidence fabricated to lay psychological ground for legal case

The main goal of the black propaganda raised against Gülen is to fabricate evidence for a case against Gülen and members of the Hizmet movement. The ultimate goal, he further argues, is to ensure that the movement is classified as an organized crime syndicate. The black propaganda reports will be used as evidence to substantiate the allegations.

Turkey’s picture on freedom of the press bleak on WPFD

FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK Journalists who have taken the opportunity to reflect on the thorny issue of freedom of the press in Turkey on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), which is marked every May 3, have drawn a bleak picture, speaking about the various problems that restrict freedom of the press in the […]

ICG report praises reformist role Hizmet plays in [Kurdish] settlement process

A recent report released by the International Crisis Group (ICG) on Turkey’s efforts to address the Kurdish issue has praised the positive role the faith-based Hizmet movement plays in the settlement process. The report, titled “Crying Wolf: Why Turkish Fears Need Not Block Kurdish Reform,” released on Monday.

Trustees seize control of schools in government-led move

A judge in İstanbul has ordered that trustees be appointed to 12 companies, including the FEM and Anafen prep schools established by people sympathetic to the faith-based Gülen movement for allegedly being affiliated with Kaynak Holding.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Graduation ceremony of Pak-Turk school held

Erdoğan says personally pursuing fight against ‘parallel structure’

Turkey’s Reichstag Fire

Municipality shuts down three reading halls in Adıyaman

Turkey targets the Gulen family

Criminal complaint filed against prosecutor accusing Hizmet of being terrorist

Turkish authorities withdraw license of station linked to PM Erdogan’s opponents

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News