THE INQUIRY COMMISSION
ON THE STATE OF EMERGENCY MEASURES
Türkçe
Meeting with the Delegation of the Council of Europe

On 8 September 2017, the Delegation of the Council of Europe visited the Inquiry Commission on the State of Emergency Measures. Director for Human Rights, member of the Venice Commission, Senior Advisor to the Secretary General and Unit Chief at European Court of Human Rights Registrar’s Office were in the delegation of the Council of Europe.

The delegation of the Council of Europe visited the building of the Commission and they were informed related to the application procedure via an application form which shall be filled out electronically via Commission web site. In addition, in the meeting held between the delegation and the commission, the working procedures and principles of the commission, collection of information and documents, examination and decision process were explained.

Following the visit, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe made a presentation (SG/Inf(2017)30) at the meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies on 13 September 2017 and below speaking notes were expressed with regard to the visit:

  • The Council of Europe experts held exchanges with members of the Commission in charge of reviewing measures adopted under the state of emergency decree-laws, including the dismissal of public officials and the closure of some institutions. The exchanges with members of the Commission focused on the working methods of the Commission.

  • The members of the Commission clarified important issues: in particular the reasoning of their decisions, which shall be individualised, and their power to request information and documents from the relevant authorities.

  • They also shared information on how the effective execution of their decisions will be ensured by the authorities. For example dismissed public officials, in case of a decision in their favour, should be reinstated within 15 days following the notification of the decision to the relevant administration. In case of a decision in favour of closed institutions, including media outlets, the effects of the closure shall be removed, which implies in principle the recovery of assets and licenses.

  • A total of 186 personnel, 28 judges, 30 inspectors and 40 specialists were assigned to the Commission.

  • As of 7 September 2017, the number of applications submitted to the Commission is 84.557.

  • It was confirmed that the Council of Europe will continue to cooperate actively with the Turkish authorities.