Turkey loses unwanted record to Hungary in ECHR appeal list

ANKARA

The number of applications against Turkey pending at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has more than halved over the last four and a half years, according to data gathered by the state-run Anadolu Agency. However, Turkey remains among the most consistently challenged states at the ECHR. 

In September, Turkey reportedly lost its third spot to Hungary on the list of states with the highest number of appeals pending, with 7,600 cases. This marked a sharp drop from December 2013, when some 16,876 applications from Turkey were pending at the ECHR. 

Ukraine topped the list in September 2016 with a whopping 18,100 applications, followed by Russia with 8,700 applications and Hungary with 8,050 applications. 

The sharp fall in ECHR applications against Turkey followed a regulatory change paving the way for individual applications to the Constitutional Court in 2012. The change added an extra layer of process and the ECHR requires domestic remedies to be exhausted before accepting an application. 

Anadolu Agency also quoted experts claiming that the foundation of a human rights office under the International Law and Foreign Relations Directorate of the Justice Ministry had also helped reduce the number of cases against Turkey at the ECHR.