Council of Europe considers a matter of urgency to guarantee Turkey's judicial independence

The Council of Europe said on Wednesday that the independence of the judiciary in Turkey had deteriorated significantly in recent years and called on the Turkish authorities to take urgent action to improve the situation.

The pan-European organisation highlighted that the deterioration of the situation has mainly occurred after the application of the state of emergency from July 2016 to July 2018.

According to its Commissioner for Human Rights, Serb Dunja Mijatovic, who visited Turkey between 1st and 5th July, in addition to an erosion of constitutional and structural guarantees that support the work of judges, there has been a greater partiality of the judiciary against political interests.
In their report, they denounced the misuse of preventive detention, especially in cases related to terrorism and organized crime.
The Commissioner said she was aware of the challenges Turkey faces in fighting "many terrorist organisations at the same time", but pointed out that failure to respect human rights in this process only brings discredit.

The seriousness of the situation requires urgent action, she said. Firstly, to return to the situation before the state of emergency in terms of constitutional and structural guarantees for the independence of judges.

Mijatovic also recommended a complete review of the legislation and warned that the strategy of judicial reform is not in line with either current or future needs.

She urged the Turkish authorities to respect the independence of judges in their speeches and actions, especially when, for humanitarian reasons, judicial action is required against their own interests.

She extended her warning to the work of human rights activists. The measures taken during the state of emergency had, in her view, contributed to the creation of an increasingly hostile environment for them.

Mijatovic expressed concern about the increasing violence in political discourse against these activists and the fact that they are being labelled as terrorists, which, she said, "often" determines the actions of the justice and administrative authorities against them.
She also expressed concern about the situation of lawyers, who are affected as human rights defenders and about the restrictions imposed on the exercise of their work.