A joint comprehensive briefing document released by Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, and the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project details how Turkey is openly defying the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and dismantling the last remnants of judicial independence within its borders, raising the alarm for democratic values in Europe.
Despite being a long-standing member of the Council of Europe and a candidate for European Union accession, Turkey now holds the notorious record for the most unimplemented ECtHR rulings, with over 500 leading and repetitive cases still pending. This non-compliance—deeply rooted in political tactics—has grown into a systematic pattern, laying bare Ankara’s disregard for its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Tactics of Defiance: Turkey’s Blueprint for Undermining the ECtHR
The report lays bare a multi-pronged and calculated strategy that Turkish authorities use to neutralize and circumvent the effect of ECtHR judgments. Far from a passive failure to comply, Turkey’s approach is proactive, deliberate, and corrosive, fundamentally threatening the integrity of the European human rights framework.
1. Judicial Shell Games: Repackaging Charges to Evade Compliance
Turkish prosecutors and judges—at all levels including the Constitutional Court—engage in a legal sleight of hand: when the ECtHR rules a detention or prosecution unlawful, authorities simply refile identical charges under a new legal pretext, often labeling the same acts as new and distinct crimes. This tactic, which has been systematically deployed in the cases of Osman Kavala, Selahattin Demirtaş, and Atilla Taş, creates an illusion of judicial due process while deliberately thwarting the release of individuals already deemed unjustly detained.
In Kavala’s case, successive arrest orders were issued on overlapping charges just as previous ones were quashed, preventing his release despite ECtHR rulings and a finding by the Committee of Ministers that Turkey was in flagrant breach of the Convention. The Grand Chamber itself noted this cycle as a form of legal bad faith, designed to keep political detainees imprisoned by any means necessary.
2. Pretend Compliance: Dialogue without Substance
Another hallmark of Turkey’s strategy is its performance of cooperation with the Council of Europe while substantively refusing to comply. Turkish officials regularly submit action plans and status updates to Strasbourg, touting “judicial reforms” and legislative amendments. However, these submissions consistently fail to address core violations or propose real remedies. Instead, they recycle cosmetic measures or irrelevant legislative references to create the illusion of reform.
This procedural cooperation masks a total absence of meaningful change on the ground. Prosecutors and courts continue to act in defiance of ECtHR standards, and no sanctions are imposed on those who ignore binding human rights rulings.
3. Open Hostility: Denying the Court’s Authority
Perhaps most disturbing is Turkey’s increasingly brazen rejection of the ECtHR’s legitimacy. In politically charged cases, government officials and high-ranking judicial authorities have openly challenged the Court’s jurisdiction and questioned its findings. This includes public statements from President Erdoğan and his allies, who have dismissed the Court’s decisions as foreign meddling or biased interference.
One recent flashpoint is the Yüksel Yalçınkaya judgment, in which the ECtHR found systemic violations related to the use of digital evidence from the encrypted app ByLock. Rather than comply, Turkish authorities discredited the Court’s reasoning, and even the President of the Constitutional Court stated, “Ultimately, the courts in Türkiye will make the decision”—a stark rejection of the supremacy of international human rights law.
The Court of Cassation’s unprecedented refusal to comply with a Turkish Constitutional Court judgment in the Can Atalay case has taken this defiance to a new level, triggering a direct institutional crisis. The high court not only refused to implement the TCC’s order but initiated criminal proceedings against TCC members, effectively turning Turkey’s legal system into an arena of inter-judicial warfare over loyalty to the executive.
4. Weaponizing Procedure: Delaying or Blocking Implementation
Even when the ECtHR’s findings are not overtly rejected, Turkish authorities often engage in delaying tactics. Courts may refuse to prioritize ECtHR-mandated retrials or release proceedings, as in the case of Selahattin Demirtaş, whose individual application has been pending at the TCC since 2019, despite an ECtHR ruling confirming the political nature of his detention. Others, like Can Atalay, have had favorable rulings entirely ignored or counteracted by the executive-controlled judiciary.
This procedural sabotage makes legal remedies illusory and reinforces impunity for state actors violating Convention rights.
5. Parallel Prosecutions: Legal Harassment Through Multiplication
Authorities often launch multiple, overlapping cases against the same individuals—based on the same facts—to exhaust and isolate political dissidents. This tactic ensures that even if one case collapses, another is ready to continue the detention or justify new restrictions. The result is a perpetual legal limbo designed not to pursue justice, but to punish dissent.
Turkey’s Highest Court in Decline: The TCC’s Collapse as a Remedy
The Turkish Constitutional Court (TCC), once promoted as a bulwark against executive overreach, is now described as an ineffective and politically compromised institution. Despite being the domestic pathway through which individuals must seek redress before appealing to the ECtHR, the TCC’s track record has cast serious doubt on its credibility.
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Appointments under political control: Out of 15 judges, 12 are appointed directly by President Erdoğan—many of whom are former party officials or state bureaucrats—undermining the Court’s independence from the outset.
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Inconsistent and strategic judgments: The TCC is accused of cherry-picking cases and selectively defending rights, based on political sensitivity. In the Osman Kavala case, the TCC refused to find violations despite the ECtHR’s rare Article 18 ruling for politically motivated detention.
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Unimplemented rulings and judicial mutiny: Perhaps most shocking was the Court of Cassation’s refusal to implement TCC rulings, most notably in the case of Can Atalay, a newly elected MP. After the TCC ordered Atalay’s release, the Court of Cassation not only ignored it but accused the TCC of overstepping and called for criminal investigations against its members—a complete collapse of constitutional order.
Judiciary ‘Captured’ by the Executive
According to the report, the structural independence of the judiciary has been dismantled through changes initiated by the 2017 constitutional referendum, which entrenched executive power.
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The Council of Judges and Prosecutors (CJP), the judiciary’s governing body, is now effectively controlled by the ruling party. Six of its 13 members are appointed directly by the President; the rest are elected by Parliament, where the ruling coalition dominates. Judges are no longer elected by their peers, violating international standards.
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The recruitment process for new judges and prosecutors is politicized, with many selected through interviews conducted by government loyalists. Candidates with ruling party ties are often favored, regardless of merit.
This “judicial capture” has had devastating consequences. The courts are routinely used to prosecute political opponents, human rights defenders, and journalists, stripping them of liberty, political rights, and livelihoods. Disciplinary proceedings and arbitrary transfers are used to pressure non-compliant judges into submission.
EU’s Dilemma: Engagement Without Accountability
The report presents a stark challenge to the European Union. While the EU continues to engage Turkey on trade, migration, and regional security, its failure to enforce human rights conditionality has eroded its credibility.
The briefing warns that continued financial and political cooperation without human rights benchmarks enables impunity. EU instruments like the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III) have not been tied to compliance with ECtHR judgments or judicial reforms. The authors urge the EU to impose clear consequences for non-compliance, particularly in the emblematic cases of Kavala, Demirtaş, and Yalçınkaya.
A Call to Action
The report calls on EU institutions to take the following steps:
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Suspend cooperation without tangible human rights reforms.
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Publicly denounce judicial repression and arbitrary detentions.
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Tie economic and diplomatic relations to implementation of ECtHR judgments.
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Support independent legal actors and civil society in Turkey.
Conclusion: A System in Breakdown
As the report makes clear: “Without decisive and unified action by EU institutions and Member States, Turkey risks moving even further from democracy and constructive relations with the EU, centered around a shared commitment to human rights and the rule of law.”
Turkey’s refusal to implement ECtHR judgments is no longer a matter of bureaucratic inefficiency or legal complexity—it is a deliberate and strategic campaign to dismantle international legal oversight. With its judiciary co-opted and its highest court delegitimized, the rule of law in Turkey teeters on the brink.
If the EU fails to respond decisively, it not only abandons the people of Turkey but also weakens the very Convention system it helped build.
Categories: Turkey Human Rights Blog