A meeting between Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Tanja Gonggrijp, and the Deputy Minister of Justice of Türkiye, Burak Ceyhan, in Strasbourg today focused on the important role played by Türkiye as a long-standing member of the Council of Europe, as well as current challenges to human rights and the rule of law in the country and ways to address them.

The Deputy Secretary General reiterated the importance of strengthening Türkiye’s role and engagement in the Council of Europe, in line with the country’s key geopolitical role. 

She also indicated to the Deputy Minister that  the Organisation was closely monitoring the recent detentions and other measures targeting LGBTI activists and civil society in the country. 

She stressed the imperative of ensuring that all measures and proceedings fully comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. In a genuine democracy, civil society must be able to organise and speak out without intimidation or criminalisation, underlined the Deputy Secretary General.

The importance of complying with the European Convention was also underlined in discussions on the implementation of the European Court’s judgments. This week, from 15 to 17 September, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers is holding its quarterly meeting to oversee the execution of the Court’s judgments by Council of Europe member states, including Türkiye.

Cases on the agenda notably include the Kavala v. Türkiye case, the initial judgment in which became final and binding in May 2020. The case concerns the unjustified and extended detention of the applicant without reasonable suspicion, with the ulterior purpose of reducing him to silence. The Deputy Secretary General stressed that states have an unconditional obligation to execute the Court’s judgments.