Agos Weekly, Istanbul
Feb 21 2010
Turkey is the most frequently condemned country in the history of the ECHR
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declared that from its
foundation until the end of 2009, Turkey came first in violation
judgements. Accordingly, 20 percent of all violation judgments were
entered for Turkey among the 47 signatory states. Namely, 2,295
judgments were entered for Turkey. For the same period, 2,021
judgments were entered for Italy and 862 judgments were entered for
Russia.
In 2009, Turkey was again the worst human rights violator, with 356
cases out of a total of 1,625. Russia followed Turkey with 210
judgments against it and then came Romania and Ukraine, with 168 and
126 judgments respectively.
In terms of `right to life,’ 217 judgments were entered by the ECHR
since 1959, in which the states were directly or indirectly
responsible for a death. Russia led in this category with 115
judgments, while Turkey came second with 76. Among the remaining 45
states, seven of the state-related death cases concern Bulgaria and 19
cases concern other countries.