Published on 17 July 2023

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 79549/16 Selçuk TAŞDEMİR against Türkiye lodged on 18 November 2016 communicated on 28 June 2023

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the applicant’s expulsion from a university, with no possibility of enrolment at another higher education institution.

In 2006 the applicant was expelled from university for being a member of an illegal organisation and having engaged in actions on its behalf on account of his participation in a demonstration, during which he allegedly chanted illegal slogans and sang the anthem of the PKK, an armed terrorist organisation.

The domestic courts dismissed the applicant’s action for annulment of the disciplinary sanction, holding that he had been criminally convicted, in 2009, for the same acts as those which had led to his expulsion from university.

In 2011 the Constitutional Court annulled section 54(g) of Law no. 2547 on Higher Education, which provided that expelled students could not enrol at another higher education institution.

The applicant complains under Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention about his expulsion from university, which, in his view, had been the result of the exercise of his freedom of expression and assembly. He also complains about his inability to enrol at another higher education institution until 2011.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

Has there been a breach of the applicant’s right under Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention on account of his expulsion from university and his inability to enrol at another higher education institution? In particular:

(a) Was the disciplinary sanction imposed on the applicant in accordance with the law and did it pursue a legitimate aim?

(b) Having regard to the nature of the acts which led to the applicant’s expulsion from university and to the fact that he was prevented from enrolling at another higher education institution until 2011, was the disciplinary sanction in question proportionate to any legitimate aims pursued in the circumstances of the case (see, mutatis mutandis , İrfan Temel and Others v. Turkey , no. 36458/02, §§ 38-47, 3 March 2009, and Çölgeçen and Others v. Turkey , nos. 50124/07 and 7 others, §§ 47-57, 12 December 2017)?

The parties are requested to submit a copy of all documents relevant to the applicant’s expulsion from university, including the investigation report of 25 September 2006, the disciplinary board’s decision of 1 November 2006, the bill of indictment of 13 June 2006 and the Erzurum Assize Court’s judgment of 24 March 2009.