PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 29483/09) against the Republic of Turkey lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Turkish national, Mr Semir Güzel (“the applicant”), on 6 May 2009.

The applicant was represented by Mr M. Beştaş and Ms M. Danış Beştaş, lawyers practising in Diyarbakır. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.

On 7 January 2014 the complaint concerning alleged interference with the applicant’s right to freedom of expression and of assembly was communicated to the Government and the remainder of the application was declared inadmissible pursuant to Rule 54 § 3 of the Rules of Court.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1968 and lives in Diyarbakır.

At the time of the events in question the applicant was the vice‑president of HAK-PAR (Hak ve Özgürlükler Partisi – the Rights and Freedoms Party).

On 4 January 2004 the party held its first ordinary congress at a restaurant in Ankara, where the applicant was elected by the delegates to act as the meeting’s chairman.

On 28 February 2005 a public prosecutor at the Ankara public prosecutor’s office filed an indictment with the Ankara Criminal Court of First Instance against thirteen members of HAK-PAR, including the applicant, for acting in violation of section 81 (c) of Law no. 2820 during the congress on the grounds, inter alia, that there had been banners in Kurdish and that most of the speeches given by the delegates had been in Kurdish.

The applicant acknowledged before the first-instance court that he had not intervened as the chairman when certain delegates had spoken in Kurdish. In this connection, he submitted that, as a founder member of HAK‑PAR, he believed that Kurdish should be used in all areas of life; that those who spoke Kurdish were speaking in their mother tongue; and that he believed that it was neither legal nor ethical for him to intervene to force people to speak in a language other than their mother tongue. He maintained that such speeches could not have constituted an offence, when taking into account laws that had been enacted in compliance with the conditions for membership of the European Union, and the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. In this connection, the applicant also submitted that the relevant provisions of Law no. 2820 were contrary to the Constitution.

On 7 December 2005 the first-instance court dismissed an application from the defendants to suspend the proceedings and transfer the case to the Constitutional Court for examination of the compatibility of the relevant provisions with the Constitution.

On 14 February 2007 the Ankara Criminal Court of First Instance convicted the applicant of the charges. In particular, the court considered that the applicant had, despite warnings from a government superintendent present at the congress, continued to allow certain delegates to give their speeches in Kurdish, in breach of section 81 (c) of Law no. 2820. The applicant was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment.

On 23 March 2011 the Court of Cassation quashed the judgment of the first-instance court on the ground that the latter had failed to give any consideration to whether the conditions for suspending the delivery of the judgment against the defendants, pursuant to Article 231 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, had been met.

On 6 December 2011 the Ankara Criminal Court of First Instance ordered that the criminal proceedings against the applicant and the other defendants be terminated, on the ground that the statutory time-limit prescribed under domestic law had expired.
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e1
001-166682_a1_em1
CODE
DIRECT
29483/09
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-166682_a1_e2
001-166682_a1_em2
ORG
NO_MASK
Republic of Turkey
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e3
001-166682_a1_em3
DEM
NO_MASK
Turkish
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e4
001-166682_a1_em4
PERSON
DIRECT
Mr Semir Güzel
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e5
001-166682_a1_em5
DATETIME
QUASI
6 May 2009
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e6
001-166682_a1_em6
PERSON
QUASI
Mr M. Beştaş
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e7
001-166682_a1_em7
PERSON
QUASI
Ms M. Danış Beştaş
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
correct
001-166682_a1_e8
001-166682_a1_em8
LOC
QUASI
Diyarbakır
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e9
001-166682_a1_em9
ORG
NO_MASK
Turkish Government
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e10
001-166682_a1_em10
DATETIME
QUASI
7 January 2014
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e11
001-166682_a1_em11
DATETIME
QUASI
1968
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e8
001-166682_a1_em12
LOC
QUASI
Diyarbakır
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-166682_a1_e12
001-166682_a1_em13
DEM
QUASI
vice‑president
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-166682_a1_e13
001-166682_a1_em14
ORG
QUASI
HAK-PAR (Hak ve Özgürlükler Partisi – the Rights and Freedoms Party)
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e14
001-166682_a1_em15
DATETIME
QUASI
4 January 2004
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-166682_a1_e15
001-166682_a1_em16
LOC
NO_MASK
Ankara
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e16
001-166682_a1_em17
DATETIME
QUASI
28 February 2005
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-166682_a1_e17
001-166682_a1_em18
ORG
NO_MASK
Ankara public prosecutor’s office
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e18
001-166682_a1_em19
ORG
NO_MASK
Ankara Criminal Court of First
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-166682_a1_e19
001-166682_a1_em20
QUANTITY
QUASI
thirteen members
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e13
001-166682_a1_em21
ORG
QUASI
001-166682_a1_em14
HAK-PAR
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e20
001-166682_a1_em22
DEM
QUASI
Kurdish
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e20
001-166682_a1_em23
DEM
QUASI
Kurdish
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e20
001-166682_a1_em24
DEM
QUASI
Kurdish
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
insert
001-166682_a1_e21
001-166682_a1_em25
ORG
QUASI
HAK‑PAR
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e20
001-166682_a1_em26
DEM
QUASI
Kurdish
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e20
001-166682_a1_em27
DEM
QUASI
Kurdish
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e22
001-166682_a1_em28
ORG
NO_MASK
European Union
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e23
001-166682_a1_em29
DATETIME
QUASI
7 December 2005
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e24
001-166682_a1_em30
ORG
NO_MASK
Constitutional Court
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e25
001-166682_a1_em31
DATETIME
QUASI
14 February 2007
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e26
001-166682_a1_em32
ORG
NO_MASK
Ankara Criminal Court of First Instance
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e20
001-166682_a1_em33
DEM
QUASI
Kurdish
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e27
001-166682_a1_em34
DATETIME
QUASI
one year’s
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e28
001-166682_a1_em35
DATETIME
QUASI
23 March 2011
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e29
001-166682_a1_em36
ORG
NO_MASK
Court of Cassation
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e30
001-166682_a1_em37
DATETIME
QUASI
6 December 2011
NOT_CONFIDENTIAL
check
001-166682_a1_e26
001-166682_a1_em38
ORG
NO_MASK
Ankara Criminal Court of First Instance
Semir Güzel
TUR
CHAMBER
Task: Annotate the document to anonymise the following person: Semir Güzel