What Would the European Court of Human Right’s Köksal vs. Turkey Decision Mean? Policy Note / Levent Gönenç

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) publicly announced on June 12, 2017, an important decision which would greatly affect the legal developments that which have taken place following the July 15 coup attempt. In this unanimously given decision, which was made on an application of a primary school teacher who was dismissed from work by a decree-law issued under the state of emergency (SoE-DL), the ECHR stated that; the applicant must primarily exhaust all domestic remedies and therefore must apply to the “Commission on Examination of the State of Emergency Procedures” established by the SoE Decree-Law No. 685.

In my opinion, this decision can be read in two different ways. According to the first version, one may assert that the ECHR has delayed or postponed tens of thousands cases that could come before it in the near future with this decision. This decision then can be seen as a tactical one, aiming at reducing the workload (and maybe the political load) of the Court. According to the second version, the ECHR has not abstained from hearing those potential cases, but provided Turkey with an opportunity and some time to remedy the legal shortcomings which have arisen during the SoE period. I believe that the second version of this decision’s interpretation would be more sound. Let me try to explain by briefly analyzing the decision:

You may read full paper from here.