European Parliament lawmakers have filed 762 amendments to a draft report on Turkey, highlighting concerns over human rights, the rule of law and democratic standards, with a final vote expected in June.
The draft, presented by Turkey rapporteur Nacho Sánchez Amor, reflects broad scrutiny of developments in the country as lawmakers seek to shape the European Union’s stance toward Ankara.
Many of the proposed changes point to what lawmakers describe as a deterioration in human rights. Issues raised include the broad application of counterterrorism laws, the situation of political prisoners, the replacement of elected mayors with government-appointed trustees, pressure on the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the failure to implement rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
Other concerns cited in the amendments include alleged violations of women’s rights, moves to lift parliamentary immunity for opposition lawmakers, restrictions on press freedom, prison conditions including the treatment of ill detainees and transnational repression carried out by the Turkish government. Some proposals also call for officials responsible for alleged rights violations to be added to European Union sanctions lists.
Several amendments reference ongoing legal cases involving Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank, including allegations related to fraud and money laundering. Lawmakers also raised concerns about the activities in Europe of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and nationalist groups.
In his own amendment, Sánchez Amor called for the full implementation of rulings by both the ECtHR and Turkey’s Constitutional Court. He criticized what he described as the continued detention, despite court rulings, of former pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ for more than nine years, as well as civil society figure Osman Kavala for more than eight years, which he said amounted to politically motivated imprisonment.
He also urged Turkey to comply with all judgments of the ECtHR, including the Grand Chamber’s 2023 ruling in Yüksel Yalçınkaya v. Turkey. Sánchez Amor warned that decisions not to award compensation or cover legal costs in thousands of related cases could be unfair to applicants and inconsistent with the court’s previous practices.
Separately, on Thursday Sánchez Amor said in a post on X that Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu had been deprived of his freedom for a year, adding that “the worldwide battle between the rule of law and the rule by force is also unfolding in Turkey” and that the European Union should not remain silent.
Finnish lawmaker Sebastian Tynkkynen proposed that the final report strongly condemn what he described as surveillance and transnational repression targeting opposition figures, particularly Kurdish activists and individuals accused by Ankara of links to the Gülen movement.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has targeted followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle. He dismissed the probes as a Gülenist conspiracy and later designated the movement a terrorist organization in May 2016, intensifying a sweeping crackdown after a failed coup attempt in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of orchestrating. The movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
In a separate amendment, four lawmakers — Loucas Fourlas, Vangelis Meimarakis, Emmanouil Kefalogiannis and Michalis Hadjipantela — called on Turkey to fully implement all ECtHR rulings in line with its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and the Turkish Constitution.
Following the submission of amendments, a revised draft is scheduled to be presented by Sánchez Amor to the parliament’s foreign affairs committee in mid-April. The committee is expected to vote on the report in early May, before it is put to a vote in the full assembly during a plenary session scheduled for June 16 to 18.
