Decision of ECHR on plea of suspended teacher from Turkey

In its decision on an application of a teacher from Turkey, Gökhan Köksal, who was suspended from his teaching position with the emergency decree (672) passed on 1 September 2016, European Court of Human Rights rejected the plea of the teacher since ‘all legal remedies at home country were not exhausted’ before the issue was referred to the European court.

Köksal was told, in a written statement by the ECHR, to first appeal his plea to take back his job to the commission in Turkey on the state of emergency law and then appeal it to administrative courts if found necessary. Only after getting his plea rejected by the Constitutional Court of Turkey could the teacher seek remedy with the ECHR, the European court noted.

The decision of the court is expected to stand as a precedent for similar appeals of public employees from Turkey who either got suspended under the purge of Turkey’s government in response to the failed coup attempt of July 15.

The parliamentary commission of Turkey on state of emergency laws was created in April of 2017, three months after a decree orders for its formation. If a commission accepts a plea of a suspended or dismissed state employee, the person will be returned to job within 15 days. However, considering the arbitrary decisions on the suspension and dismissals, the status of over 100K former public employees still remain uncertain even if they take on administrative and/or legal action.

Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/aihm-khk-kararini-verdi-ohal-komisyonu-na-basvurun-164149.html