Europe should be 'fair and impartial' to Türkiye, says justice minister

Türkiye expects European Council and EU institutions to have a "fair and impartial" approach to the country as part of legal cooperation, the justice minister said on Wednesday.

Türkiye has the highest compliance rate with European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decisions compared to other countries, Bekir Bozdağ told the 13th Ambassadors Conference in Ankara.

"The total compliance rate of the countries that have committed to comply with the ECHR decisions is 80.14%, while Türkiye has a rate of 87.90%.

"We have complied and implemented the decisions of the ECHR," Bozdağ added.

Citing criticisms on Türkiye regarding the Osman Kavala case, the justice minister said: "The Turkish court implemented and complied with the ECHR's decision of violation of rights regarding Osman Kavala."

However, he added, "he (Kavala) was arrested for another crime, another trial, and his trial continued and now he is in prison."

KAVALA CASE

Kavala faced charges over the 2013 Gezi Park protests, a small number of demonstrations in Istanbul, Türkiye, which later transformed into nationwide riots that left eight protesters and a police officer dead.

He was acquitted of all charges in February 2020, but an appeals court overturned the verdict in January.

Kavala was also accused of involvement in the 2016 defeated coup orchestrated by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) in Türkiye.

"An implemented decision cannot be described as 'not been implemented.' What we expect from the Council of Europe and EU institutions is to be fair and impartial towards Türkiye," Minister Bozdağ stressed.

He also listed a number of ECHR decisions that have not been implemented by some EU countries, including Greece, France, and Spain.

REQUESTS ON EXTRADITION OF TERRORISTS

On Türkiye's extradition requests from EU countries and the U.S., Bozdağ said EU states and the U.S. protect the terrorists and terrorist leaders and that they do not extradite the terrorists.

"From 2012 to 2022, Türkiye requested 1998 legal cooperation within the scope of terrorist crimes from foreign countries.

"So far, 735 of them have been rejected, 18 of them have been accepted, and the others have no response yet," he said, adding that Türkiye has made 893 requests from EU states and 500 of them were rejected, with only four accepted.

"The remaining (requests) are concluded due to death or due to conclusion of the case in Turkish courts."

He also said Türkiye re-submitted at least 236 extradition requests to the U.S. from 2012 to 2022 and that 20 of them have been rejected while none has been accepted yet.

Referring to legal cooperation on extradition requests of terrorists or terrorist crimes, he said that "unfortunately, Europe remains blind-deaf to Türkiye's demands, and they act very protectively," noting that Europe also "protects" such terrorists and their terrorist propaganda against his country.

On the extradition of Fetullah Gülen, the terrorist FETÖ ringleader, who lives in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, Bozdağ emphasized that terrorist Gülen's file "presented to the U.S. is the most well-equipped in terms of sufficient evidence."

Minister Bozdağ told his counterparts that "if there is no extradition (decision) from this file, there will be no extradition from any other."

FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Türkiye, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 injured.

Addressing Turkish envoys during the opening of the conference on its third day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Türkiye "is a country that suffers the most from terrorism."

"We have been keeping a delicate balance between justice and security for years. These issues constitute an important part of our duty abroad. We are fighting the propaganda and accusations of both PKK and FETÖ, and other terrorist organizations against our country," he said.

Noting that "modern diplomacy is multi-layered, with stakeholders and actors," Çavuşoğlu said his ministry cooperates with the Justice Ministry on sensitive foreign policy matters.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK-listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S., UK, and EU-has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.