Strong increase in complaints about Turkey at court

strasbourg - The European Court of Human Rights receives a lot of complaints about Turkey. Especially after the failed coup in July, the number of complaints exploded. Compared to 2015, the number of complaints last year increased by 276 percent, said ECtHR Minister Guido Raimondi Thursday. 5363 complaints or over half of all new complaints concerned the coup attempt.

In two of these cases the court decided already that the complainants to turn to the Constitutional Court in Ankara. Following these decisions, the number of complaints has fallen sharply. But Raimondi fears that the number will increase again as the Turkish court not easily handle the large number of complaints about arrests and dismissals. If the Turkish court declares itself not competent, all business again go to the ECHR. 'The court in Strasbourg will be flooded with tens of thousands of cases,' said Raimondi.