MEP Nacho Sanchez Amor calls on Turkey to respect European Court of Human Rights sentences and end politically-motivated fabricated prosecutions.
After a Turkish court failed to release civil rights activist Osman Kavala, the standing Rapporteur of the European Parliament for Turkey, Mr Nacho Sanchez Amor (S&D, ES) issued the following statement on Friday:
“The European Parliament is dismayed at the resistance of Turkish authorities to abiding by the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights and the requests by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to immediately release Mr Kavala. Today’s decision represents a missed opportunity and a painful continuation of this arbitrary case.
We are respectfully demanding that Turkish authorities comply with the obligations they have voluntarily committed to as members of the Council of Europe, in respect of the rule of law.
The European Parliament will not stop working on this and other relevant cases and will keep putting human rights and democracy at the core of the agenda for EU-TR relations, including any positive agenda towards Turkey. We need real facts to prove the sincerity of the Turkish authorities’ latest statements expressing their willingness to come closer to the EU. That starts by respecting this and other European Court of Human Rights sentences, ending fabricated cases on political grounds.
I am here to show solidarity both personally and institutionally on behalf of the European Parliament to Osman Kavala, to his family and colleagues, in the unjustified and unlawful situation he continues to suffer.”
Further information
- EP Multimedia: EU-Turkey
- Committee on Foreign Affairs