Our Report “Assessment of the Effectiveness of Administrative Justice in the Right to Assembly in Turkey” is Published!
Freedom of expression and the right to assembly are among the areas of freedoms that have narrowed down the most in recent years, through frequent and various violations touching upon the essence of the right as well the emergence of the disproportionate nature of these practices. Not only during the state of emergency between 2016 and 2018, but also after the lifting of the state of emergency, bans on and suspension of assemblies and demonstrations have become quite common. After the pandemic broke out, such bans could also be implemented as part of the anti-pandemic measures.
This report focuses on whether annulment action against the prohibition or suspension of assemblies and demonstrations as well as action for damages to seek compensation for damages incurred due to interventions in assemblies and demonstrations or a failure to provide security can be considered as an effective remedy under Article 13 of the ECHR and Article 40 of the Constitution.
Accordingly, the report will rather discuss whether (I) judicial review is an effective remedy against general or specific bans or suspension decisions, which trigger less court action despite an increase in this practice in recent years, and (II) action for damages lawsuits as an effective remedy in damages arising from unjustified response to assemblies and demonstrations. Since the issue of effective judicial review regarding these two problems needs to be addressed from different perspectives, the study initially focuses on how to decide whether a remedy is effective or not, followed by a consideration of cases where the stay of execution mechanism may not be effective from a legislative point of view in court action against decisions to ban and suspend as well as the practical drawbacks and the relevant court decisions.
This report has been prepared by Assoc. Prof. Dr. D. Çiğdem Sever as part of our monitoring activities of the right to peaceful assembly and demonstration.
You can access the report in PDF format from the link below.
