Brussels, Belgium. The Council of Europe’s ministerial committee decided that Turkey had not demonstrated it had fulfilled its obligations under a European Court of Human Rights ruling on property rights in Cyprus. The decision came during the committee’s examination of the property dimension of Cyprus’ case against Turkey.
Committee decision
According to the foreign ministry, member states approved a proposal submitted by Cyprus requesting the preparation of an interpretative question concerning paragraph 63 of the ECHR’s 2014 judgment.
The proposal received the support of 25 member states, while two voted against and 19 abstained.
The decision means the committee will continue supervising the execution of the judgment rather than closing the process, as Turkey had sought.
Role of the committee
The ministerial committee is responsible for monitoring the implementation of judgments delivered by the ECHR and examining whether states have complied with their legal obligations under the convention.
Property rights issue
The matter under discussion concerns the implementation of the court’s rulings relating to property rights affected by the Turkish invasion of 1974 and the remedies available to refugees whose property has been usurped.
Cyprus proposal and Turkey’s response
Cyprus argued during the proceedings that clarification is required regarding the interpretation and implementation of specific parts of the judgment and requested that preparations begin for a possible referral under Article 46.3 of the ECHR.
That provision allows the committee to refer a question to the ECHR when difficulties arise regarding the interpretation of a judgment during the execution process.
According to the foreign ministry, Turkey opposed the proposal and argued that the threshold required for such a step had not been met.
