Charter help offered

STRASBOURG - Anatolia News Agency

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Head of the constitutional law advisory body of Europe’s top human rights watchdog has offered help in Turkey’s drafting of a new constitution.

“The Venice Commission is ready to extend support if Turkey asks for it. You have well-equipped constitutional experts, and we can come in handy by conveying our own experiences,” said Gianni Buquicchio, secretary of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.

Buquicchio said the commission could offer significant help to make sure the country’s new constitution conformed to European Convention on Human Rights and Council of Europe principles.

The commission head said cases heard at Europe’s top human rights court mainly involved issues in freedom of expression and thought as well as long detention periods.

“These issues stand as major problems for Turkey, but ones which could be overcome by necessary legal adjustments and by observing ECHR case law,” Buquicchio said.

“The current constitution protects the state against its citizens. The new constitution must do exactly the opposite: placing humans at the center and focusing on the protection of the individual against the state.”