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Reply to Written question | Doc. 14161 | 10 October 2016
Human rights violations in Turkey under the state of emergency
1. Like the Secretary General, the Committee
of Ministers has been, through its Chair, in close contact with the
Turkish Government since the coup attempt of 15 July 2016. Already
on 16 July, the then Chair of the Committee made a statement firmly
condemning the coup attempt, expressing support for the democratically elected
authorities and reiterating the readiness of the Council of Europe
to continue to provide assistance to Turkey on the basis of the
principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. In another
statement dated 19 July, she recalled that, as a Council of Europe
member State, Turkey was bound by all the commitments deriving from
the European Convention on Human Rights and its additional protocols.
2. The Ministers' Deputies subsequently held an informal meeting
on 5 August, during which the Secretary General reported on the
talks he had held two days previously in Ankara with Turkey's highest
authorities. The Chair of the Committee of Ministers also visited
Ankara on 24 and 25 August for further discussions. As the Honourable
Parliamentarian will know, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly
also paid a visit to Turkey on 1 and 2 September 2016. Finally,
on 7 September, the Ministers' Deputies held an exchange of views
with Mr Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkey,
attended by several Ministers for Foreign Affairs and other high-level
representatives of member States.
3. The Committee of Ministers will continue to follow closely
developments in Turkey and the assistance provided by the Council
of Europe in this context. In this respect, it welcomes the meetings
held on 2 September in Strasbourg and at the end of September in
Ankara between experts of the Turkish Ministry of Justice and representatives
of the Secretariat to discuss the compatibility with the requirements
of the European Convention on Human Rights of the measures taken
under the state of emergency. It looks forward to the follow-up
of these meetings. It also notes that a delegation of the CPT recently
visited Turkey between 29 August and 6 September 2016. The Committee
of Ministers also welcomes the visit by the Commissioner for Human
Rights to Turkey between 27 and 29 September.