Joint Rule 9.2 communication to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights’ judgment in the case of Pişkin v. Turkey

The Committee of Ministers must exercise robust oversight of this important case concerning incompatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights of the widespread dismissals of public sector workers under the state of emergency and adopt a holistic approach to implementation and reparation in the case.

On 1 September 2022, the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists presented a Rule 9.2 communication to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers regarding the execution of the European Court of Human Rights’ judgment in the case of Pişkin v. Turkey (Application no. 33399/18). The Pişkin v. Turkey judgment is the first in which the Court has ruled on the incompatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights of the widespread dismissals of public sector workers under the state of emergency. The findings of the Court are relevant to the tens of thousands who have been affected by this drastic practice, and whose right to an effective remedy continues to be violated.

The submission complements an earlier submission by the same NGOs dated 29 October 2021 (available here) on general measures Türkiye has an obligation to take to implement the Court’s judgment and responds to the Government’s Action Report submitted to the Committee of Ministers on 31 January 2022 requesting the closure of the case. The NGOs urge the Committee of Ministers to exercise robust oversight of this important case, and to adopt a holistic approach to implementation and reparation in the case. While this includes addressing the situation of the applicant, the Committee’s attention should not be limited to the narrow circumstances of this particular case, as it represents widespread and systematic violations of similar nature which have in no way been addressed or remedied.

The NGOs urge the Committee of Ministers to:

i. Request Türkiye to provide information on the detailed facts and figures about the summary dismissal of public sector workers under the state of emergency and its implications;

ii. Urge Türkiye to provide information on the consistent and interpretational practice of administrative courts and labour courts ensure that they comply with the concepts of legality, foreseeability and arbitrary interference in dismissal cases as required by the ECtHR’s judgment;

iii. Urge Türkiye to revise its Action Report and formulate clearly the necessary steps to ensure that the State of Emergency Measures Inquiry Commission, labour courts, administrative courts and other domestic administrative and judicial avenues in Türkiye are independent and impartial and they offer an effective review of the cases of dismissed public sector workers;

iv. Ensure that the domestic authorities, including the Constitutional Court, provide for effective remedies for the breaches of the rights that the ECtHR has identified, namely the right to a fair trial and respect for private and family life, of those dismissed under the state of emergency;

v. Invite Türkiye to take into account in its revised Action Report the issues raised by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights in her February 2020 report36 and by the NGOs in this submission and their previous submission of October 2021;37

vi. Urge Türkiye to adopt a definitive time-limit within which the domestic authorities should conclude a full, fair and effective determination of challenges to the dismissal decisions, taking into account the lapse of some five years since the first dismissals took place; and

vii. Ensure that Mr. Pişkin and other the dismissed public sector workers who obtained a decision of violation and/or reinstatement are provided with full reparation, including restitution and appropriate compensation and guarantees of non-repetition.

The submission can be accessed here.