The European Union-Council of Europe Joint Project on “Supporting the Effective Implementation of Turkish Constitutional Court Judgments in the Field of Fundamental Rights” held a study visit to Strasbourg, France with the participation of the rapporteurs of the Turkish Constitutional Court (TCC) on 10-11 October 2022, the third of a series of study visits to be organised in the scope of the Project.
The first day of the visit started with a welcome speech by Ms Könül Gasimova, Head of the Türkiye Unit from the Council of Europe and continued with a presentation on Article 6 (right to a fair trial) by a Turkish Lawyer of the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR) Registry. General information on key concepts of the Article, such as equality of arms and right to a reasoned judgment were explained and discussed based on some of the leading case-law of the ECtHR. The day continued with a presentation by a Filtering Section lawyer, focused on admissibility questions stemming from the quality and substantiation of complaints. The last presentation of the day was delivered by a lawyer of the Department of the Execution of Judgements of the ECtHR. It detailed the organisational structure, functions, and actors of the execution mechanism, as well as notable up-to-date subjects regarding the execution of ECtHR judgments by Türkiye, such as unlawful detentions, domestic violence, effective investigation, and reasoned judgement.
On the second day, the meetings continued with presentations on different departments and institutions of the Council of Europe, such as the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), the Venice Commission, and the Commissioner for Human Rights. Their respective mandate and the roles of these institutions were explained with a special focus on their activities in and with Türkiye. Specific topics, such as gender equality in the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights were also covered by representatives of the Gender Equality Division. These subjects and discussions were met with great interest by the participants.
The visit was assessed as highly beneficial and fruitful by both TCC rapporteurs, as well as Council of Europe representatives. It provided an opportunity to identify topics of interests which would be handled through thematic peer-to-peer meetings within the scope of the Project.
The Joint Project on “Supporting the Effective Implementation of Turkish Constitutional Court Judgments in the Field of Fundamental Rights” is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe. The Turkish Constitutional Court is the end beneficiary of the Project.
