Top Europe rights court demands defense from Turkey over block of opposition website

After having been blocked in Turkey for five years, the European Court of Human Rights is expecting Turkey to provide a defense of its decision to block access to the website sendika.org, which mainly covers labor issues. The website's lawyers took the countless bans to the ECHR in February after Turkey's Constitutional Court failed to look into the case for five years.

Tuesday October 20 2020 02:10 pm

Duvar English

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has requested that Turkey provide a defense of its decision to block access to the opposition, labor-advocacy website sendika.org.

The website has been blocked in Turkey since 2015, and its lawyers appealed to the ECHR earlier this year on the basis that Turkey has violated the 10th, 13th and 18th articles of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The website's lawyers took the countless bans to the ECHR in February after Turkey's Constitutional Court failed to look into the case for five years.

Following the application, the top court on March 11 ruled that the website's rights were violated. A second violation ruling was issued in September, but the website remains blocked.

The ECHR has requested that Turkey submit its defense by Jan. 8, 2021.

Sendika.org is among the numerous opposition websites, newspapers and television channels that have been blocked online or closed down outright by the Turkish government, a trend that increased particularly following the failed military coup of July 2016.