European court rejects FETO suspected teacher's plea

The European Court of Human Rights on Monday rejected the plea of a Turkish teacher who had challenged his dismissal from service in Turkey following the July 15, 2016, defeated coup.

The court said Gokhan Koksal's application was "inadmissible" and pointed out the "failure to exhaust domestic remedies", the court said in a statement on Monday.

Koksal used to be a teacher in eastern Turkey's Erzurum province. He was dismissed from his post for suspected links to a terrorist organization on Sept. 1.

He first filed an individual appeal against his dismissal with Turkey's Constitutional Court on Sept. 28. In November, he also appealed to The European Court of Human Rights.

Thousands of civil servants have been suspended or dismissed after the foiled coup, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 others injured.

Koksal was dismissed from his workplace as part of measures taken in Turkey following the coup, including the state of emergency declared on July 21.

Turkey accuses the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, also known as FETO, led by the U.S.-based, Fetullah Gulen, of being behind the coup bid.

In its statement, the European court said Koksal first "had to use the remedy provided for under Legislative Decree no. 685".

This means the teacher first has to approach the Turkish commission established to probe such dismissals of civil servants.

"The decisions taken by the commission could then be appealed against before the administrative courts, whose decisions in turn could be challenged before the Constitutional Court by individual petition," the statement read.

"When that highest court had examined a case and given judgment, any individual could submit a complaint under the Convention to the European Court," it added.