ISTANBUL - Turkish judge of European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Riza Turmen said on Monday that there were totally 38,500 cases pending before ECHR as of the end of 2003 and 18 percent of them (7,050) were applications made against Turkey.
Addressing the conference on ''ECHR and Turkey'' held at Kadir Has University, Turmen explained the foundation, structure and operation of ECHR.
Noting that European Convention on Human Rights became like a European Constitution and it created a common sphere of law, Turmen said that Turkey, as a country which signed the Convention, had to fulfill the requirements of that common sphere of law.
Tuzmen stressed that the Convention would not replace the internal law and that the ECHR was not a ''court of appeal,'' adding that ''this is the misunderstanding in Turkey and it is one of the reasons of the high number of applications against Turkey. As Turkish citizens regard ECHR as a court of appeal, they apply to ECHR after getting the verdict of the Supreme Court of Appeals.''
Turmen stated that the character of the cases started to change, adding ''the cases started to have a political character, but the Court is not ready for it. The only political case brought to the Court to date was the Loizidou case and the applications of the Greek Cypriots in south of Cyprus. The Court was not successful in that case because the aim of its foundation and its structure are not suitable for political cases. ECHR can't see properly the political results to which it could lead. So a big problem will come out soon.''
Noting that the Court also wanted to broaden its authorities, Turmen showed the decision of the Court about retrial of persons who were tried and convicted by military judges in State Security Courts in Turkey as an example.
Stressing that the most important problem of the Court was the number of applications pending before it, Turmen said that the cases could not be concluded before three years due to that reason.
Turkey was ranked the first among countries against which the highest number of applications were made, Turmen said, adding that Russia followed Turkey with 14 percent and Poland followed Russia with 13 percent.
Turmen remarked that after the capture of head terrorist Abdullah Ocalan, very few human rights applications were made from southeast Turkey, adding ''there is no decrease in the number of applications against Turkey, but there is a big change in respect of character of cases. The cases are more about technical issues like one's making defense before court, police custody and property rights. The problematic cases for Turkey today are allegations of torture and citizens' claims of not being able to return to their villages. If no solution is found to the latter, thousands of applications can be made against Turkey which can be in a position to pay huge amount of compensation.'' Turmen said that cases related to freedom of expression also caused trouble for Turkey.
Responding to questions of journalists, Turmen said that in case of an agreement as a result of Cyprus talks, the applications regarding property rights in Cyprus would no longer be political cases. ''Those cases will take the new Cyprus state as the respondent. They won't pursue political goals and they will be cases related to individuals,'' said Turmen. Turmen noted that Annan plan would cause certain problems for ECHR.
Pointing out that there were 100 applications against Turkey about wearing head scarf, Turmen said that the case filed by Leyla Sahin was chosen as a pilot case and according to the verdict of that case, the other cases would be concluded. Turmen stressed that the decision carried importance not only in respect of Turkey, but also in respect of France.
(Öª-AÖ) 23.02.2004