SECOND SECTION
DECISION
Application nos. 41253/19 and 51638/19
Tülay DELİBAŞ against Türkiye
and Durmuş İLHAN against Türkiye
The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 31 August 2023 as a Committee composed of:
Frédéric Krenc, President,
Diana Sârcu,
Davor Derenčinović, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged respectively on 23 July and 3 September 2019,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicants’ details are set out in the appended table.
The first applicant was represented by Mr L. Özçelik, a lawyer practising in Ankara, and the second applicant was self-represented.
The applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the independence and impartiality of the Supreme Administrative Military Court were communicated to the Turkish Government (“the Government”).
The Court received the friendly-settlement declarations, signed by the parties, under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Türkiye in respect of the facts giving rise to these applications, subject to an undertaking by the Government to pay them the amounts detailed in the appended table. These amounts will be converted into Turkish liras at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision. In the event of failure to pay these amounts within the above-mentioned three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on them, from the expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.
The payment will constitute the final resolution of the cases.
THE LAW
Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the applications.
The Court would like to draw attention to the fact that on 31 July 2018 the Turkish Law No. 7145 entered into force. Articles 4, 17, 18 and 19 of this new law provide for a right to request the reopening of domestic court proceedings or the investigation following the Court’s decision to strike out a case on the basis of a friendly settlement or unilateral declaration. According to the Court’s case‑law and practice, the reopening of the domestic proceedings is the most appropriate way to provide an effective solution to an alleged breach. In this connection, bearing in mind the Court’s subsidiary role in protecting the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Convention and its protocols, it is recalled that it falls in the first place to the national authorities to redress any violation of the Convention.
The Court further notes that the Supreme Military Administrative Court is abolished as of 16 April 2017 (see Baysal v. Turkey (dec.), no. 29698/11, 22 May 2018) and a request may be made before the Ankara Administrative Court for the reopening of the impugned proceedings.
In view of the above, the Court considers it appropriate to strike the applications out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.
Done in English and notified in writing on 21 September 2023.
Viktoriya Maradudina Frédéric Krenc
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 of the Convention
(independent and impartial tribunal)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Representative’s name and location
Date of receipt of Government’s declaration
Date of receipt of Applicant’s declaration
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses
per applicant
(in euros)[1]
1.
41253/19
23/07/2019
Tülay DELİBAŞ
1968
Levent Özçelik
Ankara
09/05/2023
24/05/2023
1,500
2.
51638/19
03/09/2019
İlhan DURMUŞ
1977
30/05/2023
18/04/2023
1,500
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.