Brussels, 27/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - Nils Muiznieks, Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, said on Tuesday 26 July that it was with “profound concern” that he had examined the decree adopted within the framework of the state of emergency declared in Turkey in the wake of the attempted coup of 15 July. He takes the view that a number of points in the decree that raise very serious questions of compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights and rule of law principles, “even taking into account the derogation in place”.
In his press release Muiznieks urges the Turkish authorities to take account of these “very serious concerns which are meant in a spirit of constructive dialogue with a view to avoiding future human rights violations during the very difficult period Turkey is going through at the moment”.
He fears that the “combination of such a wide scope, extremely wide and indiscriminate administrative powers affecting core human rights, and the erosion of domestic judicial control may result in a situation where the very foundations of rule of law are put in jeopardy”. In his view, “given the extremely broad and simplified procedures, arbitrariness is in all likelihood unavoidable and damages caused to any physical or legal person may therefore be irrevocable”. “Turkey will need to put mechanisms in place in order to ensure safeguards against abuse and to preserve separation of powers and the rule of law”, he argues.
In his press release, Muiznieks sets out numerous concerns, such as detention without access to a judge for up to 30 days, restrictions on the right of access to a lawyer, the scope of the decree, which concerns not only the coup attempt, but the fight against terrorism in general, and automatic cancellation of passports of persons being investigated or prosecuted, without court order. He also criticises the simplified procedures that allow judges and public employees to be dismissed without any specified evidentiary requirements. “Another worrying feature of the Decree is that it foresees complete legal, administrative, criminal and financial impunity for administrative authorities acting within its framework (Article 9) and the fact that administrative courts will not have the power to stay the execution of any of these measures (Article 10), even if they consider that such measures are unlawful”, he states.
EU reiterates his concerns.
On Wednesday 27 July, European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans once again stressed the EU's concerns. “We are all very worried at what is happening”, he said at a press conference. “We expect Turkey to stick to the rule of law and to respect the rules of democracy”, he stated. He said that the reintroduction of the death penalty would be a “red line” for the Commission with regard to the continuation of accession negotiations.
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini has spoken by telephone to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, a press release from the European External Action Service states. In the course of their conversation, Mogherini, while again condemning the attempted coup and expressing the full support of the European Union for the legitimate institutions of the country, underlined the expectations of the EU as to the “compliance” by Turkish authorities with the “highest standards of the rule of law and fundamental rights and freedoms”, the EEAS says. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)