The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on Thursday that Turkey violated the right to a reasoned decision of four applicants who were fired from their jobs over alleged links to a terrorist organization.
The ruling concerned applications filed by Öner Felemez and three other Turkish citizens who challenged their dismissals over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in domestic courts, seeking reinstatement. The applicants argued that the courts’ rulings lacked proper reasoning.
The applicants were fired from their jobs by the Turkish government during a state of emergency declared in the aftermath of a coup attempt on July 15, 2016. During this period, the government carried out a purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight, summarily removing 130,000 people from their jobs for alleged ties to terrorist organizations.
In its judgment in Felemez and Others v. Türkiye, the ECtHR found that domestic courts had not provided reasons for their decisions and had failed to address the important arguments raised by the applicants. The Strasbourg-based court ruled that this failure violated the applicants’ right to a reasoned decision under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which covers right to a fair trial.
The applicants had argued that no concrete evidence had been presented against them, no individualized assessment had been conducted and the dismissals were carried out without investigation or explanation.
The court ordered that the Turkish government pay the petitioners €2,000 in non-pecuniary damages and €250 each for documented costs and expenses.
The PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
