The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has asked Turkey whether the parents of 11-year-old Rabia Naz Vatan were provided an effective remedy over her 2018 death after the Constitutional Court found serious flaws in the investigation but declined to order it reopened.
The Strasbourg court asked whether the Constitutional Court’s ruling, which found a violation of the procedural aspect of the right to life and awarded compensation to Rabia Naz’s parents, amounted to adequate and sufficient redress given that the criminal investigation was not reopened and no other remedial measures were taken.
Rabia Naz was found severely injured on the road in front of her family’s home in the Eynesil district of northern Giresun province on April 12, 2018. She was taken to a hospital, where she died from her injuries.
Prosecutors closed the investigation in July 2020, concluding that Rabia Naz had died after falling from a height rather than being struck by a vehicle. A magistrate rejected her parents’ objection to the decision.
Her father, Şaban Vatan, has disputed the official account, maintaining that his daughter was struck by a vehicle and that the circumstances of her death were covered up because of the alleged political connections of those involved.
The European rights court also asked whether the Turkish legal system, as applied in the case, met the procedural requirements of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects the right to life, and whether the roughly five-year proceedings before the Constitutional Court satisfied the “reasonable time” requirement under Article 6.
The questions were communicated to the Turkish government on September 14 and made public on October 5. Rabia Naz’s parents, Şaban and Atika Vatan, lodged their application with the ECtHR on December 30, 2025.
In their application, the couple argued that the investigation failed to resolve doubts surrounding their daughter’s death and that the Constitutional Court’s ruling had no practical effect because the investigation was not reopened.
Şaban Vatan has said a black Fiat Doblo van was seen leaving the area around the time of his daughter’s death and alleged that it was driven by the nephew of Coşkun Somuncuoğlu, then-mayor of Eynesil from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). He has also accused former AKP minister Nurettin Canikli of intervening to cover up the incident. The allegations have been denied by those implicated.
Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled on May 29, 2025 that failures and omissions in the investigation amounted to a violation of the procedural aspect of the right to life. The top court cited shortcomings including failures to secure the scene and properly collect and preserve evidence, delays in obtaining surveillance footage and taking witness statements and prosecutors’ failure to visit the scene.
The Constitutional Court awarded Rabia Naz’s parents 350,000 Turkish lira (approximately €7,950) in compensation but found no grounds to order the criminal investigation reopened.
Vatan said after the ruling that his family was not seeking compensation but wanted those responsible for his daughter’s death to be held accountable and called for the investigation to be reopened.
Şaban Vatan has faced a series of legal proceedings during his yearslong campaign to shed light on his daughter’s death.
In July 2025 Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a one-year, eight-month prison sentence imposed on Vatan for sharing Canikli’s personal data. He surrendered to authorities on July 14 and was released after 38 days.
Vatan has also faced criminal complaints filed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over social media posts allegedly insulting the president.
