STRASBOURG, 13 May 2005 — Europe’s top human rights court called on Turkey to grant Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan a retrial in a ruling yesterday that was certain to enrage Turkish nationalists and could again raise questions about Turkey’s bid to become a member of the European Union.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Turkish authorities breached international treaties by denying Ocalan the right to a fair and independent trial and barring his legal representative from contacting him after he was detained. It awarded his legal representatives euro120,000 ($154,580) for legal costs and expenses, to be paid within three months.
Ocalan’s case has been problematic for the Turkish government, which wants to live up to European human rights standards while dealing with Kurdish militants seeking autonomy. He is serving a life sentence as the sole inmate of a prison island.
The European court’s rulings are binding on all 46 members of the Council of Europe, the continent’s top human rights watchdog. The verdict, issued by the court’s Grand Chamber, is final and cannot be appealed.
Retrying Ocalan or reopening his case would be “an appropriate way of redressing the violation,” the court said, but did not set a time limit. The ruling, likely to enrage Turkish nationalists who regard Ocalan as a terrorist, was welcomed by the European Union, which is to start membership negotiations with Turkey in October.
“From a political point of view, we expect Turkey to hold a new trial that will be fair and independent,” said Vittorio Emanuele Agnoletto, a member of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee. “The timing will be fundamentally important.”
He added that “a speedy decision to hold a new trial will have a very significant effect on Turkey’s negotiations with the EU.”
The court’s highest body ruled by 11 votes to 6 that Ocalan was not tried by an independent and impartial tribunal, and it held unanimouszy that he was not brought promptly before a judge after his arrest and that his lawyers were not given adequate time to prepare his defense.
“This is one of the most significant cases to come in front of the European Court of Human Rights,” said Mark Muller, a lawyer for Ocalan. “Turkey must respect the judgment — the court indicated that a new trial would be the only reasonable redress. It’s time for Turkey to join Europe, but it must abide by the rules of the club.”
In Turkey, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said the government was evaluating the decision.
“Everybody has to trust the Turkish legal system,” he said. “We have to see the decision in detail.... In law even a comma is important, the details are important.”
The decision comes amid rising nationalism in Turkey and is certain to anger many Turks who regard Ocalan as a terrorist who tried to divided the country.
“Whatever the decision of the court, Ocalan is a murderer and a terrorist,” said Sinan Aygun, head of the Ankara Chamber of Trade. Ocalan “cannot clean his hands of the blood by washing them under the tap of the European Court of Human Rights.”
Several dozen Kurdish activists staged a rally outside the court building demanding Ocalan be released immediately.
