On 9 December, the Department for the Execution of judgments of the European Court participated in Istanbul in the launching event for a new Council of Europe project “Supporting the implementation of the Human Rights action plan in Turkey”.
The Department’s representative took part in the thematic session and gave a speech emphasising the number of violations found by the European Court with regard to freedom of expression in Turkey and the long time (20 years) that this issue has been examined by the Committee of Ministers. She underlined the need for targeted training of judges and public prosecutors to ensure that they apply the criminal law in a way that protects the right to freedom of expression, particularly of journalists, in line with the European Court's case-law, and for a high-level political message to show that freedom of expression is valued in Turkey today.
