Ecthr: Turkey's Violations Account For More Than The Other 46 States Combined

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) conducted its annual press conference in Strasbourg on Thursday, where it was revealed that Turkey single-handedly surpassed the remaining 46 states in the Council of Europe (CoE) in terms of cases involving violations of the right to freedom of expression in 2014.

According to the data disclosed by the ECtHR, Turkey is responsible for 24 out of the 47 violations as determined by the ECtHR; only Hungary with seven infringements came anywhere near Turkey in this category.

According to the data disclosed by the ECtHR, Turkey also ranks poorly in terms of the right to liberty and security with 45 infringements determined by the ECtHR, coming second only to the Russian Federation, which has 56 violations to its name. Turkey is also the leader for violations of the right to a fair trial -- as articulated in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) -- with 31 violations.

The data on countries dating from 1959 to 2014 further casts a shadow on Turkey's reputation for respecting human rights and freedom of expression showing 248 violations of freedom of expression, 671 violations of the right to liberty and security and 801 violations of the right to a fair trial.

Turkey remains one of the “high case-count states” within the ECtHR, coming in fourth after Ukraine, Italy and Russia with nearly 9,500 applications pending before the court, amounting to 13.6 percent of the court's total applications that total a staggering 69,900.

ECtHR President: Individual petitions key to implementing rights enshrined in ECHR

Answering a question regarding the results of the 2010 constitutional referendum that allowed individuals to take their case to the Turkish Constitutional Court (AYM), ECtHR President Dean Spielmann said that “the right to individual petitions is a very, very important device to implement the individual rights enshrined in the Convention [ECHR].”

Spielmann added, “Turkey should be seen as an example in giving this possibility to individuals.”

Article 34 of the ECHR -- to which Turkey is a signatory -- states: “The Court may receive applications from any person, non-governmental organization or group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation by one of the High Contracting Parties of the rights set forth in the Convention or the Protocols thereto. The High Contracting Parties undertake not to hinder in any way the effective exercise of this right.”

Spielmann's remarks underline the importance of having the right to submit individual petitions to the AYM, something the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is regretting at the moment as it allows for sensitive cases in the public's interest to be heard and resolved by the AYM. One of the most well-known cases was the decision to overturn the ban on the social media platform Twitter in March of last year -- a direct product of the individual petition process.

The government's reaction to the ruling was evident after then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in his first public reaction on April 4, 2014: “We have to obey the Constitutional Court's decision, but we don't have to respect it. While the court sided with an American company in this decision, it denigrated our national values.”

The AYM ruled to overturn the ban on the popular social media platform, Twitter, after a complaint was filed by two academic experts on cyber law who asserted that blocking Twitter infringed on the constitutionally enshrined right to information.

The ban against Twitter went into effect on March 20, 2014 only hours after Erdoğan vowed to “root it out,” after Twitter users widespread references to the allegations of corruption that had become public.

Gianni Buquicchio, the President of the Venice Commission (VC), in November praised the AYM rulings regarding the Twitter and YouTube bans at the “Individual Application to Constitutional Court as a System to Protect Human Rights at National Level” conference in Antalya.

ECtHR figures coincide with PACE's adoption of report underlining worsening state of media freedom in Turkey

The startling number of violations against freedom of expression in Turkey noted by the ECtHR coincides with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopting a report on Thursday that underlines the worsening environment in terms of media freedoms and the safety of journalists in Turkey, among other countries.

The report titled “Protection of Media Freedom in Europe” cited the operations against independent media that took place on Dec. 14, during which police officers went to the offices of Turkey's best-selling daily Zaman and the Samanyolu Broadcasting Group -- both headquartered in İstanbul -- to detain key figures, as one of the factors that worsened Turkey's environment in terms of media freedoms.

Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı, Samanyolu TV Chief Executive Hidayet Karaca, along with dozens of journalists, scriptwriters and police officers were detained during the operations. Karaca was charged with heading a terrorist group based on a TV series that was broadcast years ago on the Samanyolu TV station and was later imprisoned pending trial.

Flego talked to Today's Zaman in the interim before the voting commenced, saying: “We have an impression of Turkey -- since this is the third report and we have been doing it [the report] every two years -- that the situation is worsening.”

“Let me illustrate this [worsening situation] with the press cards,” said Flego, touching upon the Turkish government's reluctance to issue 94 veteran journalists -- many of whom work for the Zaman, Samanyolu, Cihan, Taraf and Bugün media outlets -- their permanent press cards, regardless of their eligibility. “There are people [in Turkey] who have had press cards for years and years and years. Now these press cards are in question. We were not able to understand or get information [as to] why,” he stated.

According to the adopted resolution PACE recommends that the Committee of Ministers pay particular attention to the, “Full and timely implementation by member States of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights which deal with serious violations of media freedom.”

The adopted resolution also invites the VC to, “Analyze the conformity with European human rights standards of Articles 216, 301 and 314 of the Turkish Penal Code and Law No. 5651 of Turkey.” The government passed Law No. 5651, “Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by Means of Such Publication,” widely known as the “Internet Law,” in 2007. It has since served as the basis for the mass blocking of websites in Turkey.

Arif Tekdal, Strasbourg (Cihan/Today's Zaman)