Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2023)39

Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

Oya Ataman group v. Turkey

(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 9 March 2023 at the 1459 th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

Application

Case

Judgment of

Final on

74552/01

OYA ATAMAN

05/12/2006

05/03/2007

42606/05

Ä°ZCÄ°

23/07/2013

23/10/2013

50275/08

ATAYKAYA

22/10/2014

70396/11

AKARSUBAÅžI

21/07/2015

14/12/2015

37273/10+

SÜLEYMAN ÇELEBİ AND OTHERS

24/05/2016

24/08/2016

3704/13

SÄ°LGÄ°R

03/05/2022

03/08/2022

10613/10

EKREM CAN AND OTHERS

08/03/2022

05/09/2022

The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”);

Recalling that the problem of disproportionate interventions in the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Türkiye, including the prosecution of participants and/or the use of excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations, has been pending before the Committee in relation to more than 70 judgments for over 15 years;

Noting with deep regret that, despite the Committee’s indication that legislative reform is indispensable to ensure the enjoyment of freedom of peaceful assembly in Türkiye and its repeated calls for the amendment of Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations, the Turkish authorities have not amended its provisions and have not indicated any plans in this respect, including within the context of the implementation of the Human Rights Action Plan of March 2021;

Recalling that the continuing positive developments as regards the Constitutional Court’s case-law and the improvement in the domestic courts’ interpretation and application of the domestic law cannot alleviate the need for the legislative amendments required in this group of cases, as recent domestic judgments show that the legislation allows the authorities to continue their practice of declaring blanket bans on peaceful meetings and demonstrations, resorting to disproportionate force when dispersing them and imposing administrative and criminal sanctions;

Noting also that the statistical data provided by the authorities suggest that although there has been an overall descending trend through the years in the numbers of prosecutions and of convictions linked to breaches of Law No. 2911, the high number of prosecutions initiated by the prosecution offices, even if many of them ended with a non-prosecution decision, creates in itself a significant chilling effect on freedom of assembly;

Noting moreover that examples of courts decisions reveal that the application of the 2016 Directive on the use of tear gas and other crowd control weapons raises issues concerning its compliance with international standards and in particular with the principle that the use of the gas should be limited only to situations of serious risk for the physical integrity of the law enforcement officers;

STRONGLY URGED the authorities to amend Law No. 2911 in line with the principles set out in the case law of the European Court and the Constitutional Court; EXPRESSED in this respect the readiness of the Council of Europe to provide assistance to this end;

URGED the authorities to take sufficient measures to ensure that the 2016 directive and its implementation in practice comply in all respects with international standards relating to the use of crowd control weapons and to make use of the international expertise which could be made available through the Council of Europe;

INVITED the authorities to continue to provide detailed information on the context of demonstrations and meetings to which law enforcement officers intervened in the past five years, with tear gas and other crowd control weapons and the context of demonstrations and meetings which were allowed to take place without police intervention although they failed to comply with the requirements of the Law No 2911, as well as on the number of criminal and administrative prosecutions and convictions per year of participants in demonstrations linked to breaches of Law No. 2911;

NOTED the examples of speeches from high-level politicians regarding the protection of human rights in general and ENCOURAGED the authorities to continue with training of judges and prosecutors as well as law enforcement personnel on the implementation of the legislative framework in compliance with the case-law of the higher courts and on human rights; INVITED the authorities to continue to provide sample judgments and decisions concerning the group;

INVITED the authorities to provide information on the specific general measures envisaged under the case of Akarsubaşı as regards the issue of disproportionate application of administrative fines under the Misdemeanour Act which appears to have remained unresolved; INVITED also the authorities to provide information on the general measures taken or envisaged in respect of the violation of the right to a fair trial found in the recent case of Ekrem Can and Others ;

INVITED the authorities to provide information on whether the applicants have requested the reopening of the proceedings against them in the cases of Sılgır and Ekrem Can and Others, as well as on all the above issues at the latest by the end of March 2024.