The limits of transnational justice Citation for published version (APA): Kurban, D. (2018). The limits of transnational justice: The European Court of Human Rights, Turkey and the Kurdisch conflict. Maastricht University. https://doi.org/10.26481/dis.20180223dk Document status and date: Published: 01/01/2018 DOI: 10.26481/dis.20180223dk Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. 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If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: www.umlib.nl/taverne-license Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details and we will investigate your claim. Download date: 30 Sep. 2021 The Limits of Transnational Justice: The European Court of Human Rights, Turkey and the Kurdish Conflict DISSERTATION to obtain the degree of Doctor at Maastricht University on the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof.dr. Rianne M. Letschert in accordance with the decision of the Board of Deans, to be defended in public on Friday 23 February 2018 at 10.00 hours by Dilek Kurban Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Bruno de Witte Prof. Dr. Monica Claes Assessment Committee: Prof. Dr. Fons Coomans, chairman Prof. Dr. Dia Anagnostou, Pantelon University, Athens, Greece Prof. Dr. Ozan Erözden, MEF University, Istanbul, Turkey Prof. Dr. Jure Vidmar To my parents, Zeynep and Bakıl Kurban, for their unconditional love and support Table of Contents Preface and Acknowledgments vii 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Apocalpyse Now 1 1.2 Setting the Research Framework 6 1.3 The Top Down View: Assessing the ECtHR’s Impact 8 1.3.1 Turkey: The Perpetual Footnote 8 1.3.2 ECtHR’s Impact, Compliance and the Authoritarian State 13 1.3.3 Shifting the Lens to the ECtHR 15 1.4 The Bottom Up View: Mobilizing the ECtHR for Political Change 17 1.4.1 Legal Mobilization: A Literature Review 17 1.4.2 Transnational Legal Mobilization before the ECtHR 19 1.5 Filling the Gap: ECHR, Turkey and the Kurdish Conflict 22 1.5.1 Beyond the Binary: The Turkey Puzzle 22 1.5.2 Contesting State Violence in Authoritarian Settings: Kurdish Lawyers 24 1.5.3 Bridging the Gap 26 1.6 Research Timeframe and Methodology 27 1.7 Layout 29 Part I: Law and Politics of Democracy, Human Rights, Constitution-Making and the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey 33 2. Turkey’s Search for Democracy and Human Rights Reforms under European Watch 35 2.1 Introduction 35 2.2 Transition to Democracy? Perpetual Authoritarianism under Polyarchy 37 2.2.1 Transition to Polyarchy and Constitution-Making under Military Intervention: 1950-1980 38 2.2.2 Post-1980: The Institutionalization of Constitutional Authoritarianism 42 2.2.2.1 The Making of a Constitution and the Transition (back) to Civilian Rule 43 2.2.2.2 “Paradigmatic Authoritarianism”: The 1982 Constitutional Regime 45 2.2.3 Turkey’s Constitutional Regime and the Jurisprudence of its Constitutional Court 50 2.3 Turkey’s Human and Minority Rights Policies 53 2.3.1 Turkey’s Minority Policies: Historical Origins 54 i 2.3.2 Turkey’s Foreign Policy on Human Rights Treaties: A Selective Engagement 57 2.4 European Oversight of Turkey During the Cold War 63 2.4.1 Political Institutions: The EU and the CoE 63 2.4.2 Before the Kurdish Cases: The ECtHR’s Early Engagement in Turkey 65 2.5 After the Cold War: The EU’s Engagement in Turkey 69 2.5.1 The pre-Copenhagen Process 71 2.5.2 From Helsinki to Brussels (2000-2004): The Peak of the EU-Turkey Relations and Human Rights Reforms in Turkey 73 2.5.3 EU-Turkey Relations in Turbulence and the AKP’s Rollback of Reforms 75 2.6 Conclusion 84 3. The Kurdish Question in Historical Context 87 3.1 Introduction 87 3.2 From the Empire to the Republic: The Tackling of the Kurdish Demands 89 3.2.1 The Ottoman Legacy 90 3.2.2 The Republican Foundation 93 3.3 Kurdish Political Mobilization in the Multiparty Era (1950-1980) 99 3.4 Law is not Blind: The Exceptionalization of the Kurds under the 1980 Legal Regime 103 3.4.1 Denial and Suppression of Kurdish Linguistic and Political Rights 103 3.4.2 Emergency Rule in the Context of Counter-Terrorism 104 3.4.2.1 State Security Courts 104 3.4.2.2 State of Emergency 106 3.4.2.3 Anti-Terror Law 110 3.5 Kurdish Political Mobilization in the Era of Counter-Terrorism 110 3.6 Turkey’s EU Process and its Impact on the Kurdish Question 120 3.6.1 The EU Process: The Age of Legal Reforms 120 3.6.2 When the EU Withdraws: Seeking a Political Solution in the Shadow of War 123 3.7 The ECtHR on Kurdish Political and Linguistic Rights 127 3.7.1 Cases Concerning Kurdish Political Representation 128 3.7.1.1 Political Party Dissolutions 128 3.7.1.2 Electoral Threshold 131 3.7.1.3 Local Political Representation 133 3.7.2 Linguistic Rights 136 3.7.2.1 In Education: Kurdish Linguistic Rights Demands 136 3.7.2.2 In Official Documents: The Use of the Kurdish Alphabet 137 3.7.2.3 In Prisons: The Right to Correspond in Kurdish 138 3.7.2.4 In Politics: The Use of Kurdish in Electoral Campaigns 139 3.8 Conclusion 140 ii Part II: Kurdish Legal Mobilization against State Violence and the ECtHR’s Response to and Impact on Turkey’s Policies 145 4. From the Grassroots to the Transnational: Kurdish Legal Mobilization before the ECtHR 147 4.1 Introduction 147 4.2 The Emergence of the Kurdish Human Rights Movement 150 4.2.1 The İHD: A People’s Movement 151 4.2.2 Solitary Advocates: The Kurdification of the İHD 154 4.2.3 “Living at Gunpoint”: Life and Death at İHD Diyarbakır 158 4.2.4 The Price of Attestation: Investigating Human Rights under Fire 162 4.3 Kurdish Legal Mobilization in Strasbourg: Setting Precedents for Europe 164 4.3.1 Early Beginnings, Converging Paths: The Kurdish Advocates Meet the ECtHR 165 4.3.2 London-Diyarbakır: A Novel Model of Transnational Legal Mobilization 168 4.3.3 Paying the Price without Getting Full Credit 171 4.3.4 The Growing Visibility of the ECtHR among the Kurdish Lawyers 175 4.3.5 1993-2001: The Golden Age of Kurdish Legal Mobilization in Strasbourg 176 4.4 The Second Phase: A Less Receptive Court 181 4.4.1 Turkey’s Counter-Tactics: Winning Strike-Outs with Unilateral Decisions 182 4.4.2 “Counter-Reforms”: Turkey Wins a Pilot Judgment in Strasbourg 186 4.4.3 The End of the KHRP, the End of an Era 190 4.4.4 Internal and External Obstacles to Legal Mobilization 193 4.5 Conclusion: The Legacy of Kurdish Legal Mobilization 196 5. Violence as State Policy: Actors, Acts and Victims 201 5.1 Introduction: Definitions, Terminology and Methodology 201 5.2 Actors Involved in State Violence 203 5.2.1 JİTEM 204 5.2.2 The Village Guards 209 5.2.3 Hizbullah 214 5.2.4 Confessors/Informants 218 5.3 The Acts of State Violence 219 5.3.1 Enforced Disappearances 220 5.3.2 Extrajudicial Executions 224 5.3.3 Forced Evictions, Village Burnings and Property Destructions 228 5.3.4 Torture 232 5.4 Impunity 237 5.5 Victims of State Violence: Four Stories 238 5.5.1 Enforced Disappearances: ‘The Missing of Kulp’ 239 iii 5.5.2 Torture: Rape as a Punitive Instrument against Kurdish Resistance 242 5.5.3 Extrajudicial Killings: The Targeting of Kurdish Intellectuals and Dissidents 245 5.5.4 Forced Evictions and Property Destructions 248 5.6 Conclusion 251 6. When the ECtHR Speaks: The Impact of Transnational Judicial Oversight on State Violence in Turkey 253 6.1 Introduction: The ECtHR’s Impact in State Parties 253 6.2 The Golden Age: The First Phase of the ECtHR’s Review of State Violence in Turkey 256 6.2.1 The ECtHR on Issues of the Convention Mechanism and Procedure 259 6.2.1.1 Admissibility: The Exhaustion of Domestic Remedies 260 6.2.1.2 Establishing the Facts amidst Government Denial and non- Cooperation 264 6.2.2 The ECtHR on Substantive Issues 270 6.2.2.1 Turkey’s Emergency and Derogation Regimes 271 6.2.2.2 Violence as a State Policy: The ECtHR on Administrative Practice Claims 276 6.2.2.3 Impunity as a State Policy: Denial of Effective Remedies to Victims 281 6.2.2.4 Defining the Scope of Substantive Rights 284 6.2.2.4.1 Enforced Disappearances 285 6.2.2.4.2 Extrajudicial Executions 288 6.2.2.4.3 Torture and Degrading and Inhuman Treatment 293 6.2.2.4.4 Forced Displacement/Property Destruction 295 6.2.2.4.5 Discrimination 296 6.3 A New Phase: Collaboration between the ECtHR and Turkey 298 6.3.1 The Era of Reforms: Complying with the ECtHR with an eye to the EU 299 6.3.2 Back to Domestic Remedies: The ECtHR’s “Partnering” with Turkey 304 6.3.3 A Lost Opportunity? The Search for Truth and Justice in Turkey 311 6.4 The ECtHR’s Reluctant Comeback 317 6.4.1 Old Wine in not-so-New Bottle: The Resumption of State Violence in the Kurdish Region 317 6.4.2 When “Partnering” goes Wrong 320 6.5 Conclusion: The Legacy of Strasbourg in Turkey’s Kurdish Conflict 324 7.