THE JUDGEMENTS BY THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON TÜRKİYE SINCE 15 JULY 2016

Thousands of people in Turkiye have been subjected to human rights violations due to unlawful practices and decisions that started as a reaction to the 17/25 December (2014) “bribery and corruption operations” and became state policy with the 15 July coup attempt. Especially serious violations of human rights have been experienced in detentions, arrests and trials within the scope of investigations initiated after the 15 July coup attempt. Due to these practices and decisions contrary to the Constitution and present lawsas well as universal legal principles, it has become impossible to protect fundamental rights and freedoms through domestic remedies or to compensate for violations of rights. In the current situation, there are no effective domestic remedies before the Constitutional Court, higher courts and local courts, and most importantly, the Turkish judiciary has been transformed into a judicial system under the control of the government with the structural changes made.

Throught this process, numerous applications were lodged to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) due to unlawful practices and judgements. Although not at the desired speed and quality, the applications have started to be decided by the ECHR. In this context, important violation decisions and judgement have been made regarding arbitrary and unjustified interference with the right to liberty and security, freedom of expression, freedom of association, right to a fair trial and other fundamental rights and freedoms. Accordingly, as of April 2023, a total of 77 judgements involving 3.743 individuals were issued and a total of EUR 16.207.582 in compensation were awarded.

In order to contribute to the legal struggle of individuals who have been suffered from the dark amosphere and unlawful practices in Turkiye, our Foundation has prepared this booklet which contains a summary of the decisions of the ECHR on human rights violations against Turkiye after the 15 July coup attempt.

In the light of these judgements, which contain the most fundamental determinations regarding universal law and constitutional guarantees, we hope that this study of Justice Square will be useful contribution to stop human rights violations in Turkiye.

Amsterdam-September 2025