An ad hoc sub-committee of the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), chaired by Mogens Jensen, will examine recent developments in Turkey during a visit to Ankara Nov.21-23, according to a press statement from PACE on Friday.
Meetings are scheduled, in particular, with the Turkish parliament speaker, representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior Affairs and Justice, and various parliamentary groups.
The members of the ad hoc sub-committee will also have meetings with the president of Turkey’s Constitutional Court, the deputy president and members of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), the chair of the Commission on Human Rights, the chair of the parliamentary Inquiry Commission on the July 15 Coup Attempt and journalists as well as with representatives of civil society and the diplomatic community.
The sub-committee will comprise Jensen (Denmark, SOC), Deborah Bergamini (Italy, EPP/CD), Josette Durrieu (France, SOC), Kelly Tolhurst (United Kingdom, EC), Anne Brasseur (Luxembourg, ALDE) and George Loucaides (Cyprus, UEL).
Turkey experienced a failed coup attempt on July 15 that claimed the lives of more than 240 people and injured a thousand others.
The Turkish government launched a massive purge in the aftermath of the coup attempt, jailing opposition deputies and journalists as well as removing more than 110,000 soldiers, judges, civil servants and teachers from their posts over coup charges.