Ensar Nur | July 10, 2025
STRASBOURG — The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ruled that Turkey violated the right to a fair trial in three separate cases, involving arbitrary dismissals and excessive delays in legal proceedings. The court ordered the Turkish government to pay a total of €8,250 in damages to the applicants.
In Yıldırım v. Turkey, the applicant, a contract public employee, was dismissed from his position over alleged ties to the Gülen movement, despite facing no formal investigation or complaint. Turkish courts, including the Constitutional Court, upheld the dismissal based solely on reports from the provincial governor’s office, without conducting an individual assessment. The ECHR found this to be a violation of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, awarding the applicant €2,000 in non-pecuniary damages.
In Şimşek v. Turkey, the court found that the applicant was dismissed under similar allegations, again without any concrete evidence. Domestic courts and the Constitutional Court rejected his appeals without addressing the substance of his claims. The Strasbourg-based court ruled that this lack of judicial reasoning constituted a rights violation and awarded Şimşek €2,000 in moral damages and €250 in legal costs.
The third case, Akarsu v. Turkey, involved former Court of Cassation judge Mustafa Akarsu, whose application to the Constitutional Court remained unresolved for over seven years. The case was filed on August 19, 2016, and concluded only on October 5, 2023. The Turkish government cited court workload and the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons for the delay. The ECHR, however, dismissed those justifications and ruled that the length of the proceedings was excessive. Akarsu was awarded €4,000 in damages.
The rulings add to a growing body of ECHR decisions criticizing Turkey’s post-2016 judicial practices, particularly in relation to individuals accused of ties to the Gülen movement.
