The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the outline of the case of Ms. Merve Safa Kavakçi of Turkey, as contained in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/175/11(a)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 174^th session (April 2004),

Taking account of a communication from the source dated 24 September 2004,

Recalling that Ms. Kavakçi was elected in the April 1999 elections but prevented from taking her oath; she was subsequently deprived of her Turkish nationality, for which reason the parliamentary authorities no longer considered her to be a member of the Turkish Parliament; on 22 June 2001, the Constitutional Court dissolved the party to which she belonged and banned her from political activity for five years; Ms. Kavakçi, who is currently living in the United States of America, is charged under Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code for "insulting and vilifying the dignity of the Republic and the Military Forces of the State in writing", and will have to appear before a judge on her return to Turkey,

Considering that Ms. Kavakçi filed a petition in the European Court of Human Rights regarding the revocation of her Turkish nationality while she was a Member of Parliament; the decision on admissibility of the petition is still pending,

1. Calls once again on the Turkish Parliament to provide redress to Ms. Kavakçi for the moral and financial prejudice she has suffered as a result of her arbitrary exclusion from Parliament, and recalls in this respect that the present Parliament itself has expressed regret at the treatment she suffered at the hands of the previous Parliament;

2. Wishes to be kept informed of the proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights regarding the revocation of Ms. Kavakçi's nationality;

3. Notes that a charge brought against Ms. Kavakçi under Article 159 of the Penal Code similar to that still pending has been withdrawn; wishes to ascertain the likelihood that the second charge will also be withdrawn;

4. Requests the Secretary General to invite the parliamentary authorities once again to provide the requested information;

5. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 112^th Assembly (April 2005).

* The Turkish delegation took the floor to comment on the resolution. Its observations may be found in the Summary Records of the 175^th session of the Governing Council.

 

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 111th IPU Assembly and related meetings in PDF format (file size 520K approximately ). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

---

HOME PAGEHUMAN RIGHTSMAIN AREAS OF ACTIVITYIPU STRUCTURE AND DOCUMENTS