“I am disappointed that the reporter did not mention the Kavala case in his observations. The court’s judgment in the case of Kavala remains incomplete,” said PACE delegate Christopher Chope during the discussion of the report on “Implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.” He spoke on behalf of the European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance (EC/DA).
The PACE delegate reminded that the release of Osman Kavala was demanded from Turkey by the European Court in 2019 before the matter even reached the Grand Chamber, which also decided that Turkish human rights defender, entrepreneur and benevolent Osman Kavala, who is imprisoned, should be released. Christopher Shope mentioned on this occasion: “But until now, that decision has not been implemented. Our Turkish partners insist this is a political issue, and you, your European partners, do not understand Turkish politics.” Christopher Shope expressed concern that tyrants, such as Russia, are growing due to the weakness of the PACE. On this occasion, he continued: “Our liability is why Russia was able to invade Ukraine. And what are we doing now? Are we taking action against Turkey? No, we are not doing anything.
The Committee of Ministers could take action and expel Turkey from this organization; this Assembly could also take steps to remove the Turkish delegation from PACE. But they don’t because we are afraid, and we are afraid because Turkey is one of the big payers, and there are too many people in this Assembly who are interested in making sure that these big payers keep paying so they can keep appeasing—countries, organizations, and dictatorships, such as Turkey. Let’s hope that the people of Turkey are wise enough to remove President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government. And if they don’t do that, what will we as an organization do? If we don’t take real action, we are creating our death sentence. Instead of just talking about these issues, let’s do something about Mr. Osman Kavala.”
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
