Turkey leads in pending applications at ECHR with 23,400 cases

Duvar English

Turkey had the highest number of pending cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) with 23,397 cases in 2023, according to the annual report of the highest court of the Council of Europe members.

ECHR President Síofra O'Leary announced in a press conference that the number of total pending cases was recorded as 68,450 by the end of 2023.

Turkey was followed by Russia with 12,453 cases and Ukraine with 8,737 cases.

The high court found violations of rights in 72 of the 78 judgements on Turkey while it found no violation in three judgements.

The majority of judgments were based on the right to a fair trial (Article 6) with 17 cases. Following closely were the right to liberty and security (Article 5), respect for private and family life (Article 8), and freedom of assembly and association (Article 11), each with 16 cases.

The high court delivered judgement on violation of the freedom of expression (Article 10) on 10 cases, the lack of effective investigation (Article 2 and 3) on six cases, protection of property (P1-1) on four cases, and inhuman/degrading treatment (Article 3) on three cases, 

No punishment without law (Article 7), prohibition of discrimination (Article 14), the right to education (P1-2) had the smallest number of cases with one judgement per violation. 

As Turkey one of the members of the Council of Europe and signed the European Convention on Human Rights, every Turkish citizen has a right to apply ECHR after exhaustion of domestic remedies.