Published on 1 June 2026
SECOND SECTION
Application no. 10937/23
Hasan SAĞIR against Türkiye
and 14 other applications
(see list appended)
communicated on 13 May 2026
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The applications concern the alleged unfairness of criminal proceedings and punishments without law applied against certain members of the Armed Forces for their alleged involvement in the attempted coup on the night of 15 July 2016 on account of their acts in Kars, a city in the east of Türkiye.
All the applicants were, at the material time, serving with various low ranks in the 1st Tank Battalion, in the 14th Mechanised Infantry Battalion Command in Kars.
The trial court initially acquitted some of the applicants and imposed no penalties on the others. The judgments were subsequently quashed on appeal, and the applicants were convicted of aiding and abetting an attempt to subvert the constitutional order under Articles 309 § 1 and 39 of the Criminal Code. They were sentenced to terms of imprisonment of either thirteen years and four months or twelve years and six months.
On various dates the applicants lodged several applications with the Constitutional Court, which ultimately declared them inadmissible in summary decisions.
The applicants complain, under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, of the domestic courts’ failure to provide sufficient reasons in their judgments. They further complain, under Article 7 of the Convention, that their convictions were incompatible with the requirements of that provision in that the domestic courts had failed to duly establish the constituent elements of Articles 309 § 1 and 39 of the Criminal Code. The applicants in applications nos. 10937/23 and 11015/23 further complain that their right of access to a court under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention was breached in that the Constitutional Court did not examine their complaints under Article 7 of the Convention with reference to the provisions under which they had been convicted.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Did the applicants have a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charges against them, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, did the domestic courts provide sufficient reasons for their decision to convict the applicants of aiding and abetting an attempt to subvert the constitutional order under Articles 309 § 1 and 39 of the Criminal Code (see, for the relevant principles, Moreira Ferreira v. Portugal (no. 2) [GC], no. 19867/12, §§ 83 and 84, 11 July 2017, and Ayetullah Ay v. Turkey, nos. 29084/07 and 1191/08, §§ 127-28 and 191, 27 October 2020)?
2. Were the applicants’ convictions for aiding and abetting an attempt to subvert the constitutional order compatible with the requirements of Article 7 of the Convention? In particular:
What are the elements of the offence of attempting to subvert the constitutional order set out in Article 309 § 1 of the Criminal Code, and of aiding and abetting in Article 39 of the Criminal Code, and were those elements present in the applicants’ cases? In particular, did the domestic courts duly establish whether the mental element of the relevant offence, as laid down in the case-law of the Court of Cassation, had materialised in the applicants’ cases, as required by Article 7 of the Convention (see, for instance, G.I.E.M. S.R.L. and Others v. Italy [GC], nos. 1828/06 and 2 others, §§ 242 and 246, 28 June 2018, and K.-H.W. v. Germany ([GC], no. 37201/97, § 45, ECHR 2001‑II (extracts))?
3. In respect of applications nos. 10937/23 and 11015/23, did the Constitutional Court’s allegedly erroneous assessment of the applicants’ complaints under Article 7 of the Convention breach their right of access to a court under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (see, for the general principles, Zubac v. Croatia [GC], no. 40160/12, §§ 76-79, 5 April 2018)?
APPENDIX
No.
Application no.
Case name
Lodged on
Applicant
Year of Birth
Place of Residence
Nationality
Represented by
1.
10937/23
Sağır v. Türkiye
16/02/2023
Hasan SAĞIR
1980
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
2.
11015/23
Bayram v. Türkiye
16/02/2023
Özgür BAYRAM
1980
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
3.
11182/23
Arpaku v. Türkiye
16/02/2023
Mustafa Rauf ARPAKU
1979
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
4.
11872/23
Arslan v. Türkiye
01/03/2023
Murat ARSLAN
1980
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
5.
11877/23
Yılmaz v. Türkiye
21/02/2023
Serdar YILMAZ
1977
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
6.
11888/23
Çolak v. Türkiye
21/02/2023
Yunus ÇOLAK
1988
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
7.
11972/23
Taşkıran v. Türkiye
21/02/2023
Lokman Murat TAŞKIRAN
1992
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
8.
11979/23
Eşmeli v. Türkiye
21/02/2023
Özcan EŞMELİ
1982
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
9.
11990/23
Pehlivan v. Türkiye
21/02/2023
Volkan PEHLİVAN
1978
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
10.
12023/23
Erişken v. Türkiye
21/02/2023
Mustafa ERİŞKEN
1990
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
11.
12389/23
Bayraktepe v. Türkiye
21/02/2023
Hakan BAYRAKTEPE
1979
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
12.
13737/23
Güngör v. Türkiye
15/02/2023
Yener GÜNGÖR
1980
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
13.
14542/23
Zıngıl v. Türkiye
21/02/2023
Serkan ZINGIL
1978
Turkish
Yakup Çağrı ARISOY
14.
24382/23
Arık v. Türkiye
02/06/2023
Yasin ARIK
1985
Turkish
Emir Tunahan CENİK
15.
18092/24
Çiçek v. Türkiye
11/06/2024
Zeki ÇİÇEK
1989
Turkish
Önder ALKURT