Council of Europe: Judgement of ECtHR is Binding for Turkey

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Director for Communications at the Council of Europe Daniel Holtgen has reminded Turkey that the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are binding for the country.

CLICK - ECtHR: Selahattin Demirtaş Should Be Released

In response to the judgement of the ECtHR dated November 20, which ruled that all measures shall be adopted to put an end to the pre-trial detention of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, "The judgements of the ECtHR are no concern of ours", which also implied that the judgements of the court are not binding for Turkey.

CLICK - Erdoğan: Judgements of ECtHR are No Concern of Ours

On his official Twitter account, Daniel Holtgen wrote: "Under Article 46 of the Convention all member states are bound by the rulings of the Court."

Under Article 46 of the Convention all member states are bound by the rulings of the Court. https://t.co/KFstkbFthh

— Daniel Holtgen (@CoESpokesperson) 20 Kasım 2018

In its judgement, the ECtHR also emphasized that any continuation of Demirtaş's pre-trial detention" entail a prolongation of the stated violations and "a breach of the obligations on Turkey to abide by the Court's judgment in accordance with Article 46 § 1 of the Convention."

What if Turkey does not abide by the judgement?

Speaking to bianet about the judgement of the ECtHR and the response of President Erdoğan, Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz has stated:

"In the event that Turkey does not abide by the judgement of the court, the country could face a sanction to be imposed by the Council of Europe. These judgements are followed by the Council of Europe, Committee of Ministers.

"If Turkey does not implement a judgement such as this one, the process will be examined. It is, unfortunately, not a quickly proceeding process; but, it will still be politically followed. The Council of Europe could also initiate an expulsion process as well in such cases.

"The non-implementation of the judgement could also have economic consequences in addition to the political ones. A new political crisis could have negative effects on the economy.

"The place of Turkey in the eyes of both the Council and ECtHR would be damaged. We do not have the luxury of not implementing this judgement." (AS/SD)