Following an urgent debate on the morning of Thursday 22 April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a Resolution on “The functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey”.
In it, the Assembly “forcefully” reiterates its call to the Turkish authorities to “put an end to laws and practices that contravene democratic standards, to revise its legislation and constitutional framework in order to ensure media freedom, to restrict the interpretation of its anti-terror legislation, and to implement the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights”.
Based on the report by Swedish Socialist Thomas Hammarberg and British Conservative John Howell, who are in charge of monitoring Turkey, this text denounces the withdrawal of the Istanbul Convention, which represents a “regression” decided without any parliamentary debate and on the basis of “misleading narratives”, as well as the proceedings to lift the parliamentary immunity of a third of the parliamentarians (mainly from the opposition), the attempt to dissolve the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and the repression of its members.
The Council of Europe parliamentarians are also calling for the release of former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş and philanthropist Osman Kavala “in application of the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights of 2020 and subsequent decisions of the Committee of Ministers”.
Referring to the revision of the legislation on elections and political parties as well as to the Human Rights Action Plan announced by President Erdoğan on 2 March, they call on the Turkish authorities to take “ concrete and meaningful steps” in this framework to fulfil the obligations arising from Turkey’s accession to the Council of Europe.
Link to the Resolution: https://bit.ly/3n9wCYc (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)