CE puts Turkey on notice over HR, democracy

Top Turkey court rejects opposition’s challenge to vote

BRUSSELS: A leading European human rights body on Tuesday put Turkey on a watchlist over the crackdown on dissent since last year’s coup attempt, rights violations and concerns about President Tayyip Erdogan’s increased grip on power.

Turkey reacted furiously to the vote at the Strasbourg-based Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CE), saying it smacked of Islamophobia and was a "disgrace to this organ, which claims to be the cradle of democracy".

The 47-member Council of Europe is separate from the European Union, but the vote is likely to be a further setback in Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

The Turkish lira weakened on the vote, dipping to 3.6001 to the dollar from 3.5862.EU accession talks made very little progress in more than a decade and were further put into question by the security crackdown that followed the failed coup last July.

Relations with the EU soured even more during a referendum campaign this month on granting Erdogan more powers, during which he accused Germany and the Netherlands of acting like Nazis by banning Turkish political rallies.

The Council of Europe applies its monitoring scheme to all countries when they join, but this was the first time it has been reopened against any member of the body, which includes Russia, Ukraine and all 28 EU member states. In a resolution, the assembly - made up of parliamentarians from the various member states - voiced concern over Turkey’s sweeping dismissal and detention of civil servants, judges, prosecutors and academics following the botched coup, as well as the closure of independent media and non-governmental organisations. The vote to open the procedure against Ankara passed with 113 votes in favour versus 45 against.

The assembly called on Turkey to swiftly lift the state of emergency and free jailed lawmakers and journalists.

Meanwhile, a top Turkish court on Tuesday rejected an opposition legal challenge to last-minute voting rule changes in the referendum over handing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greater powers.

The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has repeatedly criticised the decision by the country’s top election authority to accept ballot documents in envelopes without an official stamp. The party formally lodged on Friday a petition with the Council of State, Turkey’s highest administrative court, after the ‘Yes’ side won 51.4 percent of the vote in the April 16 referendum.

The opposition, which argues that the decision by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) on the envelopes opened the way for fraud, launched a failed bid to annul the referendum last week.