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Turkey submits a fourth list of candidates to replace its judge on ECtHR

European Court of Human Rights

This photo shows an interior view of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg on January 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / FREDERICK FLORIN

The Turkish government has submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) a new three-person list of candidates after its previous three lists were rejected by Strasbourg, Deutsche Welle Turkish service reported on Wednesday.

Ankara has been proposing candidates to replace its current judge, Işıl Karakaş, whose term ended in April 2017.

The new list included Associate Professor Saadet Yüksel along with professors Necati Polat and Esra Gül Dardağan, who were included in the previous list.

The subcommittee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) had rejected an initial list proposed in December 2016 on the grounds that the nominees did not meet the requisite criteria.

According to the European Convention of Human Rights, judges must “be of high moral character and possess the qualifications required for appointment to high judicial office or be jurisconsults of recognized competence.”

Turkey’s second three-person list was also declined by the subcommittee, which found one of the candidates underqualified.

The subcommittee had agreed to conduct interviews with the third proposed set of candidates but subsequently refused to submit the list to the general assembly, declaring that the nominees didn’t equally meet the ECtHR criteria.

Ankara was required to update its list before March 6.

New candidates are expected to be invited to interviews in late March, and one of them is to be elected by the general assembly on April 9 in the event they pass the interview stage.

Judge Karakaş continues to hold the position as Turkey’s judge on the court. According to law, ECtHR hearings on applications from a country must include a judge from that country.

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