SECOND SECTION
DECISION
Applications nos. 54367/10 and 52081/12
Necmettin KULDUK against Turkey
and Can Burak TAŞKIN against Turkey
The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 21 November 2017 as a Committee composed of:
Nebojša Vučinić, President,
Valeriu Griţco,
Jon Fridrik Kjølbro, judges,
and Hasan Bakırcı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on 11 August 2010 and 20 June 2012 respectively,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant in the first case, Mr Necmettin Kulduk, is a Turkish national, who was born in 1964 and lives in Ankara. He was represented before the Court by Mr A. Bilgin, a lawyer practising in Ankara.
The applicant in the second case, Mr Can Burak Taşkın, is a Turkish national, who was born in 1986 and lives in Izmir. He was represented before the Court by Mr F. Aksoy, a lawyer practising in Ankara.
The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the lack of fairness in the proceedings before the Supreme Military Administrative Court on account of their inability to access the classified documents submitted by the Ministry of Defence to that court in the course of the judicial proceedings. The applicants also argued under Article 6 of the Convention that the Supreme Military Administrative Court could not be considered as independent or impartial as two military officers who sat on the bench remained under the hierarchy of the military authorities and did not enjoy the same judicial guarantees as the other military judges. The applicants lastly complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention that the written opinions submitted by the principal public prosecutors to the Supreme Administrative Court during the appeal and rectification stages had not been communicated to them.
The Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Turkey in respect of the facts giving rise to these applications against an undertaking by the Government to pay each of them 6,500 euros (EUR) to cover any pecuniary and non‑pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which will be converted into Turkish Liras (TRY) at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. It will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court. In the event of failure to pay these sums within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on it, 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 its Protocols and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the applications. In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases 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 14 December 2017.
Hasan BakırcıNebojša Vučinić
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy