Former CHP deputy Türmen re-elected as head of ECHR’s Judges Association

ISTANBUL

Rıza Mahmut Türmen, a former deputy of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) who is also a former judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), was re-elected as head of the court’s Judges Association on June 25.

Dutch judge Egber Myjer will be a vice head under Türmen, who was elected unanimously. 

Türmen has been head of the association for three years and was also a former judge at the ECHR between 1998 and 2008. 

The association, which was formed by all judges who have served in the ECHR, gathers twice in a year in France’s Strasbourg to evaluate rulings made by the ECHR and the practical status of the European Convention of Human Rights by member countries.    

In 2015 the association elected Türmen by more one vote than Myjer, and held its first gathering on Jan. 30, 2015 in Strasbourg. 

Türmen previously said Turkey’s existing “democracy crisis” has been exacerbated by the ongoing state of emergency in the aftermath of the failed July 15, 2016 military coup attempt.

“Turkey is experiencing a major democracy crisis. The already existing democracy crisis has grown during the state of emergency period,” he said at an event in Istanbul.