ISTANBUL - In its interim decision on Abdullah Öcalan's "right to hope", the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe urged Turkey to take steps without delay and stated that the commission established in the Parliament could be used for necessary steps.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) announced its interim decision on the "Gurban Group" file, including the "right to hope" of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, Emin Gurban, Civan Boltan and Hayati Kaytan.
The Committee, in its resolution issued after the Human Rights Meeting held between 15-17 September, stated that legal amendments should be made within the framework of a new action plan providing a review mechanism for life sentences in order to ensure the rapid implementation of the decisions in the Gurban Group case.
The Commmittee encouraged Turkey to use the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Comission established in the Parliament to implement the necessary legislative amendments. The resolution included a recommendation that the Parliament adopt the draft laws previously submitted by the Parliament on this issue.
The Committee stated that international law requires that there should be mechanisms in place to ensure that a review is carried out no later than 25 years after the imposition of a life sentence.
It also regretted that Turkey had not taken adequate measures and the necessary legislative measures. The Committee urged the authorities to take the necessary measures without further delay.
The decisions of the committee are as follows:
“*Encouraged the authorities to consider exploring various alternatives at their disposal to ensure swift implementation of the judgments in the present group, including but not limited to introducing legislative amendments within the framework of the new Human Rights Action Plan providing for review mechanism for whole life sentences; making use of the 'terror-free Türkiye' initiative and the recently established 'National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission' which has the mandate to propose legislative amendments to Parliament; or adoption by Parliament of the draft bills on this issue that have already been introduced by members of Parliament;
*Encouraged them once again to draw inspiration from the experience of other member States which have put in place such review mechanisms;
*Invited the authorities to provide information on the measures taken to ensure swift progress in the implementation of the present group of cases, by the end of June 2026 at the latest."
MA / Diren Yurtsever