The Council of Europe’s monitoring committee in an information note has expressed concerns over the independence of the judiciary in Turkey and urged authorities to uphold judicial impartiality.
In the information note issued following a fact-finding mission to Turkey from June 11 to 14, co-rapporteurs Stefan Schennach and Jill Mortimer highlighted problems with Turkey’s Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK). They noted that the majority of its members are appointed or dismissed by the executive and legislative branches, undermining the separation of powers.
The mission included visits to prisons in Ankara, Istanbul and Edirne, where Schennach met with high-profile detainees such as philanthropist Osman Kavala and Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş. Both remain imprisoned despite rulings from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) calling for their release.
“I strongly urged Turkish authorities to take immediate action to implement the ECtHR judgments concerning Mr. Kavala and Mr. Demirtaş,” Schennach said.
The note also criticized Turkish courts for resisting Constitutional Court rulings and cited repeated public attacks on the judiciary by government officials. In recent years, local courts have frequently defied higher court decisions, including those of the Constitutional Court, by refusing to release individuals whose detentions were deemed unlawful.
Public criticism by senior government figures has further undermined trust in the judiciary. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for instance, openly criticized the Constitutional Court after it annulled a controversial law allowing the government to restrict access to online content.
The rapporteurs stressed the need for Turkey to ensure judicial impartiality, free from political pressure, and also raised concerns about prison overcrowding, lengthy pretrial detentions and harsh sentences on terrorism charges.
