ANKARA: The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will meet on June 7 to review the Turkish government’s failure to implement two key judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) about the immediate release of activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala and the Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas.

The committee is entitled to take action against a member of the council if it does not respect an ECHR judgment, but such a move is rare.

Action against a state was taken for the first time in 2017 against the government of Azerbaijan, which insisted on not releasing the jailed opposition politician Ilgar Mammadov, after the Strasbourg-based court found that his detention was to punish him for criticizing the government.

On Friday, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, and the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project called on the committee to take all necessary measures to push Turkey to remedy its non-compliance with the ECHR.

The watchdogs, which also demanded measures against Turkey in March for ignoring the ECHR decisions, warned Ankara may face infringement proceedings and more measures if it insists on not complying.

To open proceedings, two-thirds of the Committee of Ministers is required to vote in favor. The case is then considered at the ECHR about whether the state in question has ignored the obligation to comply. Depending on the final decision, the Committee of Ministers can suspend said country’s voting rights or even its membership from the Council of Europe.  

The ECHR ruled that by keeping Kavala and Demirtas in pretrial detention since November 2017 and November 2016 respectively, the Turkish government violated their right to liberty and abused the option given to governments to levy limitations on rights.

The court ordered their immediate release but was ignored by Ankara, and new criminal proceedings have been opened against both men.

“This cynical non-compliance with the court’s judgments requires a robust response from the Committee of Ministers,” said Helen Duffy of the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project in a press statement.

Kavala, who is accused of being involved in the 2016 coup attempt and espionage against the Turkish government, is set for a new hearing on Aug. 6, 2021. In his latest defense statement on May 21, he said charges against him could be compared to the legal basis required for charges of espionage to be brought under the Nazis in Germany from the 1930s.

Demirtas is being kept behind bars for his political speeches and activities as leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to allegedly undermine the unity and territorial integrity of the Turkish state. His next hearing is scheduled for June 14.

In December 2019, the ECHR ruled Turkish authorities had aimed to “silence Kavala as a human rights defender” by holding him in pretrial detention and prosecuting him merely for his human rights activities.

In December 2020, it also ruled that by keeping Demirtas in pretrial detention and prosecuting him for his activities and speeches, protected under the European Convention on Human Rights, the Turkish authorities had pursued an “ulterior purpose of stifling pluralism and limiting freedom of political debate,” and of sending “a dangerous message to the entire population.”

The 48-year-old politician, who inflicted a significant blow to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during presidential elections in 2015 and general elections in 2016, faces several charges ranging from leading a terror organization to insulting the president.

“If Turkey continues to undermine the binding nature of the court’s judgments and fails to follow the committee’s guidance on what to do to implement them, there is no option left for the committee other than triggering the infringement proceedings against Turkey,” Ayse Bingol-Demir, from the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, told Arab News.

“The committee has been taking several necessary steps that it should take prior to triggering the infringement proceedings in the Kavala case. Therefore, the committee is very close to taking this exceptional step in this case if Osman Kavala’s unlawful detention is not ended immediately,” she added.

According to Bingol-Demir, the same will eventually be seen in Demirtas’ case as well, but the committee needs to first follow its internal procedure and apply other measures, as has been in the case for Kavala.  

The cases of Kavala and Demirtas still draw condemnation from around the world, with several rights groups and countries calling for their release.

Germany and France recently released a joint statement urging the Turkish government to immediately release Kavala.

In their meeting with Erdogan in Ankara in April, EU Council President Charles Michel and President of the EU Commission Ursula Von der Leyen called on Turkey to comply with the ECHR rulings, and said the issues were non-negotiable.

“The Council of Europe is an extremely important institution in the region that Turkey has lots of strong ties with. Turkey’s interest is certainly in maintaining good relations with the council, its subsequent bodies, and member states,” Bingol-Demir said.

She added that this gives the Council of Europe and the Committee of Ministers “very strong leverage” to deal with the challenges Turkey has posed to the council’s human rights protection system.

ANKARA: Turkey has discovered 135 billion cubic metres of additional natural gas in the southern Black Sea, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, raising the total discovery in the region to 540 billion cubic metres.
Last year, Turkey’s Fatih drill ship discovered 405 bcm of natural gas in the western Black Sea region’s Sakarya field, in the country’s biggest discovery.
“Our Fatih drill ship made a discovery of 135 billion cubic metres of natural gas in the Amasra-1 borehole in the Sakarya gas field,” Erdogan told an opening ceremony in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak.
“Our new drilling operations around (the borehole) continue, God willing we expect new good news from this region,” he added.
Turkey uses two of its three drill ships to speed up field development. In a sign that the size of reserves would upgrade after each drill, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said last month that one drill ship would open new test wells to appraise firmer reserve figures while the second one will upgrade testing wells to production status.
Ankara aims to pump gas from the Sakarya field to its main grid in 2023, with sustained plateau production starting in 2027 or 2028. The field will reach full production status after a four phase development plan, Donmez has said.
A pipeline stretching at least 160 km will be required to connect new wells in the region to the main grid, while Ankara will need to construct a receiving station within two years to match its timetable.
Turkey, which has little oil and gas, is highly dependent on imports from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, as well as LNG imports from Qatar, the United States, Nigeria and Algeria for its gas. It imported 48.1 bcm of gas last year, up 6% from a year before, of which a third were from Russia.
Turkey has also been exploring for hydrocarbon resources in the Mediterranean, where its operations in disputed waters have stoked tensions with Greece and Cyprus.

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday blamed Iran-backed Houthis for the failure of a cease-fire to take hold in Yemen on Friday and accused them of not taking other steps toward ending the brutal conflict.
“While there are numerous problematic actors inside of Yemen, the Houthis bear major responsibility for refusing to engage meaningfully on a cease-fire and to take steps to resolve a nearly seven-year conflict that has brought unimaginable suffering to the Yemeni people,” the State Department said.
The US special envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, returned on Thursday from a trip to Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, where he discussed the humanitarian and economic crisis in Yemen with government officials, Yemenis and international partners, the department said in a statement.
Since taking office in January, US President Joe Biden has made Yemen a priority and appointed Lenderking to help revive stalled UN peace efforts.
After Lenderking returned from a visit last month, the State Department accused the Houthis of worsening Yemen’s humanitarian crisis by attacking Marib, the last northern stronghold of the legitimate government that the Houthis drove out of the capital.
The situation has not changed.
“The Houthis continue a devastating offensive on Marib that is condemned by the international community and leaves the Houthis increasingly isolated,” the State Department said.
Lenderking had talked to Yemenis about strengthening “inclusive processes” that could help citizens discuss the country’s future and increase efforts toward peace, it said.

MOSCOW: Sudan has not pulled out of an agreement with Russia to set up a Russian naval facility in the country, Interfax news agency reported, citing deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
“I think a compromise can always be found,” Interfax quoted Bogdanov as saying on Friday. “They have not denounced the agreement, have not withdrawn their signature, they said some questions have emerged,” he said.
Sudan said earlier this week it was reviewing an agreement to host a Russian naval base on its Red Sea coast, which was reached by President Omar Al-Bashir before he was toppled by a popular uprising in 2019.

TEGUCIGALPA: Honduras will open an embassy in Jerusalem this month, the country’s president said Thursday, in a bid to build closer ties with Israel after decades of operating in Tel Aviv.
The central American nation previously opened a commercial office in Jerusalem, breaking a decades-long policy of neutrality in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel is set to open a diplomatic office in Tegucigalpa, Honduras’s capital city, in response.
“We are going to formalize what we have already carried out step by step, which is the installation of our embassy in Jerusalem,” President Juan Orlando Hernandez said.
He added that the move “will empower us on the agricultural side, in the field of innovation and in the field of tourism.”
Honduras has had difficulty obtaining Covid-19 vaccines to control a pandemic that has overwhelmed hospitals, but in February obtained 5,000 Moderna jabs donated by Israel.
The country has the second largest Palestinian community in Latin America, second only to Chile.
It joins a small but growing number of nations with embassies in Jerusalem, including the United States, Kosovo, and its central American neighbor Guatemala.
The status of the city remains one of the biggest flashpoints in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and most countries have their embassies in Tel Aviv.