2010 ilerleme raporu - Avrupa Birliği Bakanlığı

The investigation begun in 2009 into the charity association Deniz Feneri concerning a fraudcase in Germany is continuing. The police made searches on the premises of the associationand at the homes of the suspects. However, no indictment has been submitted to court yet.The draft law on the Turkish Court of Auditors, which envisages strengthening the Court andextending its mandate, was adopted by the Planning and Budget Committee of the Parliamentin May and is awaiting approval by the plenary. (See Chapter 23 - Judiciary and fundamentalrights)Overall, progress has been made as regards the development of a comprehensive anticorruptionstrategy and action plan and of a body to oversee and monitor its implementation,thus addressing Accession Partnership priorities. However, effective implementation of thestrategy is necessary to reduce corruption which remains prevalent in many areas. Turkeyneeds to develop a track record of investigations, indictments, and convictions.2.2. Human rights and the protection of minoritiesObservance of international human rights lawAs for ratification of human rights instruments, ratification of the Optional Protocol to the UNConvention against Torture (OPCAT) is still pending before parliament. Turkey has notratified three additional Protocols to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) 9 .The number of rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) finding that Turkeyhas violated the ECHR continued to increase. During the reporting period the court delivereda total of 553 judgements finding that Turkey had violated the ECHR. The number of newapplications to the ECtHR went up for the fourth consecutive year. Since October 2009, atotal of 5,728 new applications were made to the ECtHR. The majority of them concern theright to a fair trial and protection of property rights. As of September 2010, 16,093 cases werepending before the ECtHR regarding Turkey. The amendment to the Constitution introducingthe right to submit individual applications to the Constitutional Court is an important step toreduce the number of applications to the ECtHR.Turkey has abided by the majority of ECtHR rulings, including payment of compensationtotalling €6.1 million in 2009. Amendments to the Law on enforcement of judgments addressshortcomings in the judicial process that were identified in several ECtHR rulings againstTurkey. However, some rulings have not been followed up by Turkey for several years 10 . Thegovernment’s announcement that it would address these issues was not followed by action.In the Cyprus v. Turkey case, the issue of missing persons and restrictions on the propertyrights of Greek Cypriots living permanently in the northern part of Cyprus remains pending.At a meeting in September 2010, the Committee of Ministers decided to postponeexamination of these issues until December 2010. In its Grand Chamber Decision of 5 March910Protocols 4, 7 and 12.The non-implementation of the Hulki Güneş, Göçmen and Söylemez judgments has resulted indeprivation of liberty for the defendants for several years without due process of law. A legislativeamendment is required to remedy this situation. Furthermore, Turkey has not adopted legal measures toprevent repetitive prosecution and conviction of conscientious objectors. Other issues awaitinglegislative measures by Turkey concern control of the activities of security forces, effective remediesagainst abuse, restrictions on freedom of expression and excessive length of pre-trial detention.EN 16 EN