Consider facts in Turkey before judging: Bozdag

By Omer Aydin

STRASBOURG (AA) – Turkey’s justice minister Wednesday urged the international community to consider Turkey’s situation before passing judgement.

“Turkey has gone through great trials and suffered threats. The international community and countries should consider the things Turkey has gone through,” Bekir Bozdag told a press conference in Strasbourg alongside Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland.

He said this would help them understand Turkey better and contribute to their view of the country.

Speaking after meeting with Jagland, Bozdag said that for years Turkey, one of the council’s founding members, has served its values and contributed to them.

“All fair and objective considerations are appreciated and guiding for us,” he added.

On people dismissed from jobs due to alleged links to the Fetullah Terror Organization (FETO) and the terrorist PKK, Bozdag said, “All that is needed will be done in terms of law. People have the right to appeal. All applications to Turkish law or the constitutional law, or the European Court of Human Rights, are available.”

He said that during these people’s legal processes, all mechanisms of the state of law are held accountable.

Jagland, for his part, said of their meeting, "We requested that Turkey provide some pledges and reassurances over the state of emergency after the putsch attempt" of July 2016.

"We stressed the need to establish an effective path and law at the domestic level to lead the process since the coup attempt, and it happened."

Jagland added that an independent monitoring commission regarding the state of emergency has been established to track the situation and decide whether Turkey's legal decisions related to the coup bid are conducted within the framework of Council of Europe precedents.

Later Wednesday Bozdag is due to meet European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) President Guido Raimondi.

The coup attempt last July against Turkey’s democratically-elected government -- blamed by Ankara on FETO, led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen -- left at least 248 martyrs in its wake and some 2,200 others injured.

In the wake of the coup attempt, tens of thousands FETO suspects have been arrested, including many in the armed forces, police, justice system and education sector.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU -- resumed its armed campaign in July 2015 and since then has been responsible for the deaths of approximately 1,200 security personnel and civilians, including women and children.