Euro court prioritizes assessment of complaints against gov’t-imposed curfews in Turkey

STRASBOURG

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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Dec. 15 decided to prioritize 34 applications made on behalf of 160 people from Turkey over the their complaints about alleged unlawfulness committed during round-the-clock curfews imposed in southeastern and eastern provinces after August 2015.

“In the context of its examination of the requests for interim measures, the ECHR decided to give priority treatment to the majority of these 34 applications in accordance with Rule 41 [order of dealing with cases] of the Rules of Court,” the statement said.

The court initially said it had decided to “communicate various complaints to the Turkish government in the 34 applications and has asked them to submit their observations,” concerning the curfews that lasted for many months after August 2015, as part of measures the government said it took to protect civilians amid wide-scale operations in eastern and southeastern provinces against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
 
The court described communication as a decision “to bring to the attention of a Convention State’s government that an application against that state is pending before the court,” and further stated that the allegations were made on “unlawful killings and failure to take steps to protect the right to life,” “ill-treatment,” and “unlawful deprivation of liberty.” 

These allegations correspond to the court’s articles of the right to life, prohibition of inhumane or degrading treatment and the right to liberty and security. 

The statement added that the applications included more than 40 requests for interim measures and said most of the incidents took place in the Cizre district of the southeastern province of Şırnak and the Sur district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.