IAHRAG Issues Open Letter to UN Member States Over Systemic Rule-of-Law Collapse in Türkiye

The President of the International Association for Human Rights Advocacy in Geneva (IAHRAG) has issued an urgent Open Letter to all Member States of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The communication warns of an exceptional crisis concerning the systemic violation of fair-trial and legality guarantees in Türkiye.

On 16 December 2025, the ECtHR delivered three group judgments continuing the Grand Chamber’s Yüksel Yalçınkaya (15669/20) and Demirhan 1595/20  and others line of case-law. In these judgments, the Court found new violations of Article 6 (right to a fair trial) and Article 7 (principle of legality) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of 2,420 applicants. As a result, the Yalçınkaya and Demirhan group judgments now concern 2,659 individuals whose criminal convictions have been found to be incompatible with the most fundamental Convention standards.

Key Figures from the Letter:

• 2,659 Individuals: Applicants in the Yalçınkaya, Demirhan and Others, Bozyokus and Others, Karsli and Others, and Seyhan and Others group cases whose convictions violate fundamental Convention standards.
• 10,000+ Pending Cases: Applications currently before the ECtHR raising similar complaints.
• 1,239 Judges & Prosecutors: Targeted and detained, leading to a devastating impact on judicial independence.
• Mass Criminalization: Since 2016, approximately 3.1 million individuals have faced terrorism-related accusations—nearly 4% of the population.
• 32 UN Opinions: The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has repeatedly found a structural practice of arbitrary detention in Türkiye.

IAHRAG calls upon the international community to move beyond "neutrality," stating that continued inaction risks normalizing these violations and undermining the global human rights framework.

Find the letter below: