Protection of Human Rights in the European Union and Turkey

Introduction of the Course

Introducing Human Rights in Turkey • Compulsory Reading: Bayar (2025) ch.3 “Architecture of the European Human Rights Regime” • Compulsory Reading: Bayar (2025) ch.1 (Introduction: core argument & periodisation). Recommended reading: Arat, Z. F. "Collisions and crossroads: Introducing human rights in Turkey." Human rights in Turkey (2007): 1-18. Recommended reading: Keyman, E. Fuat, and Senem Aydιn Düzgit. "Europeanization, democratization and human rights in Turkey." In Turkey and the European Union, pp. 69-89. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2007.

Human Rights in Turkish Constitutions • Compulsory Reading: Özbudun, Ergun. The constitutional system of Turkey: 1876 to the present. Springer, 2011. Bayar (2025) ch.4 “Turkey’s Human Rights Trajectory until 2002” (use for constitutional rupture/continuity framing). Turkish Constitutional Court (AYM), Individual Application guide/handbook (sections on admissibility + pilot judgments + effects). https://ww2.anayasa.gov.tr/media/2744/individualapplication.pdf Recommended Reading: Özbudun, Ergun. "Democratization reforms in Turkey, 1993–2004." Turkish Studies 8, no. 2 (2007): 179-196.

Turkey’s Participation to Human Rights Regimes • Compulsory Reading: Türkmen, Fusun. "Turkey’s Participation in Global and Regional Human Rights Regimes’." Human rights in Turkey(2007): 249-261. Bayar (2025) ch.3 (Council of Europe system + how EU becomes a rights actor).

European Commission’s Progress Reports on Turkey since 1998 • Compulsory Reading: Reports prepared by the commission: https://www.ab.gov.tr/regular-progress-reports_46224_en.html Gates, Andrea. "Mixed messages and mixed results: the EU's promotion of human rights in Turkey." European Law Journal15, no. 3 (2009): 401-411. Bayar (2025) (EU conditionality → reform packages; use the judiciary-reform/“packages” discussion as the bridge to progress reports). Recommended Reading: Aydin, Hasan, and Winston Langley. "Introducing human rights in Turkey." Human rights in Turkey: Assaults on human dignity (2021): 3-22.

Minority Rights • Compulsory Reading: Toktas, Sule, and Bulent Aras. "The EU and minority rights in Turkey." Pol. Sci. Q. 124 (2009): 697. Oran, Baskın. "Minorities in Turkey I: Law and Reform." In The Commentaries–Volume 1, 2021, pp. 49-56. Transnational Press London, 2021. Oran, Baskın. "Minorities in Turkey II: Ideology and Discrimination." In The Commentaries–Volume 1, 2021, pp. 57-64. Transnational Press London, 2021. • Recommended Reading: Spielmann, Malte. "Kemalism, the Judiciary, and Human Rights Diffusion: The ECHR in Turkey." Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law & International Law (MPIL) Research Paper 2021-18 (2021).

Revision of the former weeks, Q&A, Mid-Term

European Court of Human Rights and Turkey: Diffusion and Compliance Politics Ozbudun, Ergun, and Fusun Turkmen. "Impact of the ECtHR rulings on Turkey's democratization: an evaluation." Hum. Rts. Q. 35 (2013): 985. Bayar (2025) ch.3/ch.5 excerpts on ECtHR as “normative power centre”, Opuz/Kavala/Demirtaş as compliance indicators. Recommended Reading: Spielmann, Malte. "Kemalism, the Judiciary, and Human Rights Diffusion: The ECHR in Turkey." Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law & International Law (MPIL) Research Paper 2021-18 (2021).

 16 March, Monday 18 March Wednesday – No Classes – Spring Break  19 March– No Classes – Half Day Holiday  20 March – 22 March – Feast of Ramadan Holiday

Readings: Bayar (2025) on Opuz → Istanbul Convention leadership /// Bleiberg (2005); Bottoni (2013) 1. Case law: Kavala v Turkey – the Infringement Procedure 2.Case Law: Leyla Sahin v Turkey Reading: Bleiberg,B. "Unveiling the real issue: Evaluating the european court of human rights' decision to enforce the turkish headscarf ban in Leyla Şahin v. Turkey." Cornell L. Rev. 91 (2005): 129-168. 3.Case Law: Sevgi Kurtulmuş v Turkey -- Reading: Bottoni, R. "Legal, political and social obstacles for headscarved women working at state institutions in Turkey." Religion & Human Rights 8, no. 3 (2013): 183-201. ///Gibson, Nicholas. "An Unwelcome Trend: Religious Dress and Human Rights Following Leyla Şahin vs Turkey." Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 25, no. 4 (2007): 599-640. /// Alkiviadou, Natalie, and Andrea Manoli. "The ECtHR Through the Looking Glass of Gender: An Evaluation." Goettingen J. Int'l L. 11 (2021): 191-211. 4. Case Law: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi v Turkey. - Kovács, Kriszta. "Parliamentary Democracy by Default: Applying the European Convention on Human Rights to Presidential Elections and Referendums." Jus Cogens 2, no. 3 (2020): 237-258. Case law: Opuz v Turkey -- Bayar, T. Turkey’s Withdrawal from Istanbul Convention: Authoritarianism meets International Regimes

State of Emergency Göztepe, Ece. "The permanency of the state of emergency in Turkey." Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft 28, no. 4 (2018): 521-534. Bayar (2025) on post-2013 regression/rule-of-law deterioration as the structural context for emergency governance.

Migration and Asylum Policy: the EU-Turkey Deal & Pact on Migration and Asylum Bayar (2025) “The Migration Dilemma” Recommended readings: • Lehner, Roman. "The EU‐Turkey‐'deal': Legal challenges and pitfalls." International Migration 57, no. 2 (2019): 176-185. • Rais, Mehdi. "European Union readmission agreements." Forced Migration Review 51 (2016): 45. • Tunaboylu, Sevda, and Jill Alpes. "The EU-Turkey deal: What happens to people who return to Turkey." Forced Migration Review 54, no. February (2017): 84-87. • Léonard, Sarah, and Christian Kaunert. "De-Centring the securitisation of Asylum and migration in the European Union: Securitisation, vulnerability and the role of Turkey." Geopolitics (2021): 1-23. Migration and Asylum Policy: Turkey’s Law on Foreigners and International Protection • Zoeteweij-Turhan, Margarite Helena. "Turkey: between hospitality and hostility." Forced Migration Review 57 (2018): 54-56. • Ineli-Ciger, Meltem. "How Have the European Union and the EU Asylum Acquis Affected Protection of Forced Migrants in Turkey?:

The Capital Punishment • CİĞER, M. "Re-Establishment of Capital Punishment in Turkey in The Light of Human Rights Treaties’ Interpretation." İMGELEM 4, no. 7 (2020): 399-422. • Bayar (2025) on the death penalty debate as hegemonic signalling + legal/institutional barriers (pairs well with treaty-interpretation angle).

The Judicial System: AYM (Constitutional Court) • Muftuler-Bac, Meltem. "Backsliding in judicial reforms: Domestic political costs as limits to EU’s political conditionality in Turkey." Journal of Contemporary European Studies 27, no. 1 (2019): 61-76. 23 April, Thursday – National Sovereignty and Children’s Day Holiday Recommended Readings: • Yılmaz, Gözde. "Europeanisation or de-Europeanisation? Media freedom in Turkey (1999–2015)." In Is Turkey De-Europeanising?, pp. 147-162. Routledge, 2018. • İlkiz, Fikret. "Freedom of Expression and the Press in Turkey." In Authoritarianism and Resistance in Turkey, pp. 215-227. Springer, Cham, 2019. Present and Future." In Human Rights in Turkey, pp. 23-48. Springer, Cham, 2021.  1 May, Friday – Labour and Solidarity Day Holiday Week 16: (May 4) Review of the former weeks, Q&A May 8  Last day of classes.