The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a decision today (2 December 2021) and notified Turkey the intention of referring the Kavala case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to determine whether Turkey has executed the judgment of Kavala v. Turkey.

In line with the principle of respect for pending judicial proceedings, we call on the Council of Europe to avoid taking further steps, which would/mean interference in the independent judiciary. Everyone, and above all the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe should respect and trust in legal proceedings conducted by independent and impartial courts.

Being a founding member of the Council of Europe, Turkey is aware of its responsibilities stemming from the European Convention on Human Rights. Turkey so far executed 3,674 judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, 128 of which has been during this year.

The Committee of Ministers, which supervises the execution of European Court of Human Rights judgments, has currently a large number of cases on its agenda. We view it as an inconsistent approach to regularly keep the Kavala judgment on the agenda, while there are older judgments concerning variety of issues, which are yet to be executed by other States. Initiating certain mechanisms available under the European Convention of Human Rights, against certain countries based on political considerations rather than legal and equitable criteria undermines, first and foremost the reputation of Council of Europe.

If the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe wishes to maintain the effectiveness of the human rights system, it should stop this biased and selective approach and address the execution of ECtHR judgments in an impartial way with respect to all member States.