Cases in European Court of Human Rights on the rise
The rising number of cases in the European Court of Human Rights turns attention to freedom of speech, the Kurdish issue and Turkey's Anti-Terror Law.
By Alakbar Raufoglu for SES Türkiye --12/05/11
With nearly 18,500 cases, mainly on human rights violations, freedom of expression and prolonged judicial procedures, Turkey recently became the country with the second most applicants to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), after Russia.
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![Demonstrators try to protect themselves as riot police use water cannons to disperse them during a protest in Ankara in February. Turkey recently became the country with the second most applicants to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights. [Reuters]](/shared/images/2011/12/05/ALAKBARphoto-310_213.jpg)
Demonstrators try to protect themselves as riot police use water cannons to disperse them during a protest in Ankara in February. Turkey recently became the country with the second most applicants to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights. [Reuters]
![Demonstrators try to protect themselves as riot police use water cannons to disperse them during a protest in Ankara in February. Turkey recently became the country with the second most applicants to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights. [Reuters]](/shared/images/2011/12/05/ALAKBARphoto-800_550.jpg)
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"The number of cases against Turkey increased by 34% in one year," said Isil Karakas, a Turkish judge at the ECHR, adding that Turkish courts must adhere more closely to rulings coming from the ECHR if they want to prevent the flow of cases to Europe’s top human rights watchdog.
In its annual Progress Report, the European Commission criticised the Turkish government for "not finding a way to respond to the calls of the ECHR to reduce the time of imprisonment and speed up prosecution".
During his recent visit to Ankara, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, said journalists in particular were facing a "chilling" situation.
"A number of journalists have been arrested within ¬the scope of notorious broad-sweeping anti-terrorism laws. Many are detained for excessively long periods before being brought to trial," he reminded.
Authorities in Ankara, however, are not impressed. "These kinds of topics are addressed during our negotiations with the EU and they see that we are approaching them," Ayhan Sefer Ustun, chairman of the Turkish Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission, said.
In the meantime, he said, Turkey would offer settlements to prevent cases from being taken to the ECHR. "The government is now working on reforms and taking additional steps with European allies."
For the political opposition, the continuing arrests of journalists and academics charged with being members of banned groups, not only punishes the AKP government's rivals, but also damages the country’s image in Europe.
"This is not helping Turkey in its accession process with the EU and must be stopped immediately," said Ayse Gulsun Bilgehan, CHP MP and member of the Turkish delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
One of the major concerns coming from Europe is Turkey's Anti-Terror Law, which broadly defines support for terrorism, and often clashes with the principle of freedom of speech and peaceful political protest.
Cenap Cakmak, head of the international relations department at the Eskisehir Osmangazi University, said the disagreement between Turkey and Europe partially stems from the inherent difficulty in offering a generally acceptable definition of terrorism.
"Given this background, despite bold initiatives and reforms in the field of human rights and democratization, Turkey cannot be expected to introduce drastic changes to the existing legislation on anti-terrorism unless the PKK and its political splinter organizations make it clear that they will relinquish violence methods," he said.
According to Hamid Akin Unver, Ertegun Lecturer of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at Princeton University, as far as Kurdish rights and cultural expression go, the AKP will likely not run into problems with the ECHR.
"They understand the dynamics of why Turkey is subject to the highest number of cases there," he said, arguing that, "after all, President Gul's wife had brought the case of the headscarf and sued Turkey in the ECHR before AKP came to power".
"However, the recent KCK operations will run into problems with the ECHR; most recent of which is the arrest of notable academics who taught courses in one of these KCK political science workshops," he added.
However, Sarah Fischer, Turkey analyst at American University, argues it is possible for judicial ideals in Turkey and the Europe to align.
"Frequently, Turkey's EU-accession process is labelled 'cyclical' and is seen as having been in a 'down' cycle for several years," she said, adding that if discussions over freedom of expression in Turkey and the EU gain traction, it might mark the beginning of an "up" cycle.
"The PKK's supporters are a diverse group. Should serious efforts be made to undertake judicial reform and expand democratic rights in Turkey, it is likely that some factions of the PKK's supporters would re-focus their efforts towards working within such a system," Fischer said, reminding that the right to express one's self has been a key concern of many Kurds for decades.
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The judges had been uniformed, they bring in verdict quilty and sign the verdict by insufficient sentences without explaining the matter. That is where the problem lies. Even Işıl Karakaş, in favor of AKP, had specified Turkey as one of the worst countries in freedom of expression in terms of court sentences being given!
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The justice works reversely in our country.
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Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,God bless you
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First, there should be justice to bring the injustice to the court. State is not a real state.
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I am currently doing my military service in the Kirklareli province. There are commanders here that are trying to extend our time. They extended my time by 59 days although I didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t understand why they punish us with such extensions due to our haircut or use of cell phones. Everything, that is restricted to soldiers, are restricted to commanders too, but they still use cell phones and even laptops. However, when we as a soldier use cell phone, they extend our time by 10 days. Is this justice? We are not selling our country, but working for it. There are many other similar examples. I’m talking to those who are turning us against our country by such acts.
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And they have extended my military service for 59 days while I have no fault. We, soldiers are good when we do everything but why a small telephone or a haircut do extend our military service? While all forbidden things are for all soliders and for commanding officers, they use it and further, they bring their laptops but when we use a telephone, they extend our military service for 10 days. Is that justice, is that right? We are not selling the country, we are struggling for the country but such soldiery is unacceptable. There are much more than that, one can not finish them with telling. While everybody is fighting for his family, honesty, dignity and home country, they disincline us from our home country.
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It’ll be appropriate to open another case related to the return of rights in the progressive retirement draft law before 1999. Because, the law has been approved in 1999 but covered the previous ones as well. Retirement in 2008 does not cover the previous ones before this date, covers the later ones however they made covering before 1999. This does not fit into the justice inequality. We want our retirement rights. In Turkey, in Facebook, the numbers of victim members has reached at 20 thousand. They were taking 5.300 TL premium from me, now they take 8000 thousand and I’ve been working for 27 years and still cannot retire. Members of the Parliament should hear our voice, should end this injustice and should return our rights. Thanks.
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I am calling out to the statesmen who are ruling our country. I work at a private company and earn minimum wage, but it is not enough for a living. We cannot make ends meet, so we have to buy everything with credit cards. Members of parliament approve high percentages of salary increases for themselves quickly, but what they deem suitable for us is always a ridiculous amount of rise. And they even try to avoid that making all kinds of excuses. On top of that, they increase the price of everything. The result is we are hungry as always.
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Members of the parliament retire after their one or two periods in the parliament, they create a related draft law for themselves and pass their salary increase immediately. They forget the concerns and problems of the people, they should also deal with the problems of the people a bit. They should deal with the rights of the victims of the graduated pension law before 1999. I’ve 8.500 days of contribution Premium. I’ve completed 27 years and I’ll wait for another 3 years. What kind of justiceis that? I want my rights of pre-1999. When I entered in Social Security Institution, there was not such a clause contract. They have introduced us grade before 1999. If you’re passing a new law, it should cover the matters after that date. Everybody should write down their own views and opinions. I’ve read in Facebook: Association of Istanbul Attorneys is preparing to bring this matter to the European Court of Human Rights, that’s fine. Most of the victims were protesting this in Ankara and Izmir too. We can get our rights in some ways. Love.
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We must appreciate the value of this beautiful country.
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Humans from their very beginning upto now had always searched for their rights for any reason, directly or indirectly, either by law courts or by religious scope, for example according to Islam, being unjust is an important crime. Ottoman Empire, although it contained so many ethnic group within the empire, remained standing and did not demolish for 700 years thanks to its fair attitude towards the people and giving their rights. Allah clearly stated in Qur’an that whoever comes with whatever reason on the Judgement Day, I’ll forgive however the people coming with rightful due will not be forgiven. Rights are important, our prophet also advise in his deeds that “People who worked for you should get their rights before their sweat has dried.”. While our state authorities knows these well, if people still want to have their rights, they should return, give their rights, especially members of the parliment because they are the representatives of the nation, just like a public notary. They should relieve their own people, before these people bring their rights, justice cases to European Court of Human Rights. I want to conclude that “if there is an injustice somewhere, that place decomposes, crumbles and if there is justice and rights in some other place, that place rises, people’s anxiety disappears. Regards to everybody.
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I’m writing my commnets from Bursa. Three years ago, my son, while playing in the kindergarten with his friends, had injured in the slide (the slide was three layers composed of pipes and my son squeezed his finger into the floor of 2nd layer and due to a sudden movement, his finger had chopped). He had an operation in Uludag University to seam his finger back but in vain, they seperated the finger again. Reports were taken, criminal case report were taken, I sued the Municipality and commenced a claim for damages. I’ve arranged an official examination on the game tool and the mechanical engineer reported that the tool was produced defective and it’s not appropriate. Also the court board has issued a report with a similar result: defective. The court case has continuing for 3 years, it’s not certain how it’ll be ended. In this country, your court case ends within two months if you’ve money. Bureaucrats, artists, members of the parliament get their defamation cases concluded in 1 or 2 months and get their compensations. I wonder, what will happen to the future of my child? Is there anybody caring for this in Turkey? It’s a very big crime. If this court case will result negatively in Turkey, I’ll search for the justice in European Court of Human Rights. I’m just a worker but a human being. I’ll get my rights and compensation wherever there is justice. I’m not running after and begging for help from any party, I’m not searching for my rights in media or in any other places, indeed I can’t afford these. I want Turkish Republic to run fairly in justice. They should not care the wealth of people, they should care for the compensation of their victimhood. To summarize, the justice is in favor of injustice, in victimhood.
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This government has passed the paid military service. For the people with Bag-kur (Translator’s note: A social security institution.), they made them retired after their payment of just 30 days premium with bank credit. The retirement sufferers of pre-1999 have at least 8000 days premium, they don’t see these sufferers because not serve their purpose. We pay high premiums to the state, a newcomer worker will not pay such high premiums. State officials are blocking the youngs in official positions. Whereas smart, educated bright youngs are unemployed. The olds have been still working for 30 years, 35 years. They can not work in private sector even until 40 years old. You’re old, let him go if he’s not accepting to work under heavy conditions. I’m telling to state: Give us back our rights of retirement suffering pre-1999. In the result, our this matter have been continuing for years, until we get our rights.
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There are youngs being graduated from Faculty of Law every year and courts and Ministry of Justice is still working slowly. What kind of justice is that? Citizens are tired of waiting at the court gates. Such working is not available in any country in the world.
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Bravo to CHP for taking the issue about exploitation of our rights regarding gradual retirement prior to 1999 to the respective investigation committee of the parliament. I hope they go to the constitutional court if they cannot achieve any results via the committee. Thanks to CHP MPs.
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I was sentenced to 1 year for intimidation and 8 months and 22 days for blackmailing although I didn’t even step out of my car. What kind of justice is this? Whom shall I turn to now? I wrote to President [Abdullah Gul] and he says they cannot interfere in judiciary. So we have to paddle our own canoe and that is what will do. Is this how Turkey will become a country of freedom? It is full of liar judges. They reach verdicts negligently. Is it that easy to send a man to prison? God damn such kind of justice! Mehmet Dağ [email protected]
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I will vote for those parties or MPs that will grant us pensioners’ rights based on the period before 1999. I will vote for them even if they are a Kurdish party. I will stand by whoever recognizes my rights. This is how it is going to be for me from now on.
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Local and general elections are approaching and the AKP is losing votes because those, who were not allowed to retire before 1999, ar talking about these in every city. I hope the AKP solves the problem of these people.
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Guys, if you write about all the injustices here, they will be published and read by Europe and the state will have to look for ways to take steps accordingly. Everyone from retirement victims to others should write something because you do not have such an advantage on other web sites. This web site is about European Court of Human Rights. Especially those, who had age-related retirement issues and do not have the power to struggle with them, should better their complaints here. Have a good day, a good night and a good working day, Turkish citizens.
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I want neither European Community nor tolerance to the terrorism and its supporters. I’m a Kurd as well, I’ve studied, tried and now working for state. Nobody says “You’re Kurd.” to me. I’m free forever.
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First I want to state that, ECHR exists but in order to call people who do not hold us in esteem and who have money and power for account. Subject: New fabrication decisions. Just for putting them on salary, where in the world is being investigated that how and with whom you’re living and this is not being applied to state retirement fund? What is this other than discrimination in my country? They now accuse me. The reason is that I’m living with my old spouse. Just an excuse. They cut my salary from my father. Who will defend me and how? I want help from ECHR too. There are many suffered people like me. Furthermore, such a fabricated law was absolutely not exist when they put me on salary. What shall we do now? Please help. Save us from this nonsense legislative intention.
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On 31 August, Minister of Labour has declared that the minimum retirement age will be increased to 53 after 2015 on medial channels. In other words, they completely take away the retirement rights of age victims of pre-1999 by adding the years on top. The reason is that there had been opening in Social Security Autority. As Minister, you try to balance this deficit by invoicing to workers, to me. You don’t let me be retired on 5000 days. I’ve 8000 days and still has 2 years for retirement. They’ve already delayed my retirement for 4 years. They say that they will extend the age for 4 years after 2015 as well. So, I’ll have to wait for my retirement age for a further 5 years in total. I’m paying a higher premium to the state than required
I’m paying 6500, how SSK is having deficit? They could not take the seniority indemnity from the emplyee and now, they try to take away the retirement rights of the people. Hey, people, wake up! Remember Yasar Okuyan, the former Minister of Labour from ANAP; he made wrongdo in retirement matter and the people got through with ANAP in ballot box. And Faruk Celik will cause people to get through with AK Party in ballout box too. I’ll not vote for them because if they do it before 2015, they know very well that they will lose votes. I’ve been working for 27 years and have further 2 years, i.e. 29 years. When 2015 matter is being considered, another 3 years, so in total 32 years. I’ve been victimized. I’m already a pre-1999 victim of age and they will cause my situation to get worse. The ones who have been handicapped by the age in pre-1999 retirement, let’s not sleep, they clearly take our rights away from us. Consider your votes in all elections and give your votes in accordance with their performance. If my premium is 3600 more than deserved, then state should give my money back. they owe me and on top of that, they don’t retire me. The reason is SSK is having deficit. They have not anything to be sold in the country, they run out of money anymore and now, they try to invoice this to the emplyees. There is no job for the young people, elders will work until death. There will not be any old people in private sector as long as they are in power. -
So they say Turkey is ruled by democracy. However, a Chinese proverb says “You are ruled by your preferences.” This determines how you are governed – with justice or injustice, by thieves or decent rulers, etc. The result is in a closed ballot box. Let’s see you, Turkey! From the ballot box comes voices, rights, democracy, decent rulers, justice and welfare, and that is how sufferings would end.
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I am calling out to those who suffered from retirement age rules prior to 1999: They granted amnesty for Bag-Kur (social security organization for artisans and the self-employed) members. They will allow those SSK (social insurance institution) members, who reached the retirement age but do not have sufficient premiums, get retired – just like Bag-Kur members. The parliament approved depreciation allowance for journalists. They stole our retirement rights prior to 1999 and gave nothing to us. What kind of principle of equality is that? These can set a precedent. There are 5 million people who suffered from the retirement age rules prior to 1999. Let’s assume each family has 2 children – that would make 20 million votes. There are 3 elections ahead of us. This is an opportunity. Vote accordingly. It’s time to teach them a lesson. We shall get our rights by means of the ballot box.
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I think soon more cases will be brought to the courts. As one of the 1999 retirement sufferers, I’m planning to go to the court, too. Let’s see. I’ve suspended it for the time being after the declaration of Minister. If the result becomes a fiasco, which I expect to happen because I don’t trust the Minister of Labor, I’m planning to start the litigation immediately.
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I was one of the people who could not retire due to age [limit] before 1999. I have been under social security coverage (SSK) since 1986, but those, who have been registered at the SSK since 1987, have retired because they are one year older than me! They retired based on 7000 premium days whereas my days amount to 8500 day. I will have to wait for 1.5 years more. What kind of justice is that? This is just one example. There are more than 10 examples like that. Everybody is watching football and protesting at the tribunes, but only 500 people attend the public gatherings for those who could not retire due to age limit. Our [actual] number is 5 million. If we massively attended those gatherings, the draft law would be passed in a week. Working in private sector is difficult and it is a privilege. [Those working] at factories are getting organized. If the government do not pass this law as soon as possible, we’ve decided, we will not vote for them.
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