The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decided today to reopen the monitoring procedure in respect of Turkey until “serious concerns” about respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law “are addressed in a satisfactory manner”.

The resolution adopted calls on the Turkish authorities urgently to take measures such as lifting the state of emergency “as soon as possible”, halting the promulgation of emergency decree laws which bypass parliamentary procedures “unless strictly needed” and releasing all the parliamentarians and journalists detained pending trial. It also calls on them to establish the Inquiry Commission on State of Emergency Measures, ensure fair trials with respect for due procedural guarantees and take urgent measures to restore freedom of expression and the media.

On the basis of a report by Ingebjørg Godskesen (Norway, EC) and Marianne Mikko (Estonia, SOC), the text adopted underlines that nine months after the attempted coup, “the situation has deteriorated and measures have gone far beyond what is necessary and proportionate”. The authorities have been “ruling through decree laws” going far beyond what emergency situations require and overstepping the parliament’s legislative competence. In this context, the Assembly stressed that “the reintroduction of the death penalty would be incompatible with membership of the Council of Europe”.

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