The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found Turkey in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) for denying access to legal recourse to 42 judges and prosecutors whose terms were prematurely terminated under a controversial 2014 law that restructured the country’s top judicial board.
In a judgment delivered Tuesday, the court concluded that Turkey violated Article 6 of the ECHR, which guarantees the right to a fair trial, by denying the dismissed officials the opportunity to contest the legality of their removal. Each applicant was awarded €7,800 in non-pecuniary damages, with additional amounts granted for legal fees and costs.
The case centers on Law No. 6524, enacted in February 2014, which overhauled the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), predecessor of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), the body overseeing judicial appointments and discipline.
Among other measures, the 2014 law terminated the positions of key HSYK personnel, including secretaries-general, deputy secretaries and inspection board members. Although the Turkish Constitutional Court later annulled the provision, citing violations of judges’ rights, the ruling was not applied retroactively, leaving the dismissed officials without reinstatement or compensation.
The ECtHR judgment echoes a broader pattern of concerns about judicial independence in Turkey, particularly following the December 2013 corruption investigations that implicated close associates of then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Those investigations led to the resignation of four ministers but were later dismissed by the government as part of an alleged coup attempt orchestrated by the Gülen movement, a faith-based group Turkey has since labeled a terrorist organization.
The dismissed judges and prosecutors argued that the 2014 law, and their subsequent reassignments to lower-ranking judicial roles, were politically motivated acts of retaliation for the judiciary’s handling of the December 2013 corruption cases. After the HSYK’s unanimous public statement condemning government interference in the judiciary, many of its members faced reassignments.
The government defended the dismissals and restructuring as necessary reforms to combat what it called the undue influence of the Gülen movement, which Ankara accused of infiltrating the judiciary. In its submissions to the ECtHR, the government argued that the measures aimed to uphold judicial impartiality and national security.
However, the ECtHR found that the applicants had a legitimate right to challenge their dismissals in court and that the denial of this right undermined the principle of judicial independence, a cornerstone of democratic governance and the rule of law.
The 2014 HSYK overhaul was one of several measures the Turkish government implemented after the December 2013 police raids in corruption probes targeting Erdoğan’s inner circle, widely regarded as a turning point in the country’s political trajectory. The graft investigations were abruptly halted, and the prosecutors and police officers involved were reassigned or dismissed.
The crackdown on the judiciary intensified following a coup attempt in July 2016, which the government blamed on the Gülen movement. Thousands of judges, prosecutors and other civil servants were purged from their positions, giving Erdoğan near-total control over the judiciary and raising international concerns about human rights abuses.
Human Rights Watch criticized the 2014 HSYK law at the time, with Turkey expert Emma Sinclair-Webb warning it granted the Justice Ministry sweeping control over judicial appointments, thereby undermining the separation of powers. The European Union and international law organizations have also raised alarms over the erosion of democratic checks and balances in Turkey.
Erdoğan is accused of exerting absolute control over the judiciary thanks to vast powers granted to him by a presidential system of governance.
A February 2024 report titled “A Profession on Trial: The Systematic Crackdown Against Lawyers in Turkey,” drafted jointly by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute and The Arrested Lawyers Initiative, revealed how legal professionals are targeted through unfair trials, arbitrary detainment, imprisonment and harassment in Turkey and how the country’s counterterrorism legislation is misused to prosecute lawyers for legitimate work.
According to the report more than 1,700 lawyers have been prosecuted, with 700 remanded to pretrial detention since the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, which prompted the Turkish government to launch a massive crackdown on perceived non-loyalist citizens under the pretext of an anti-coup fight.
Turkey disbarred more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors immediately after the abortive putsch over alleged ties to the Gülen movement.
The mass disbarment of members of the judiciary is believed by many to have had a chilling effect on the entire justice system, intimidating the remaining judges and prosecutors into doing the government’s bidding by launching politically motivated investigations of critics.