This month, Turkey Human Rights Institution, in which IKV Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan is a member, carried out its meeting in the IKV premises on the 27th March 2014.

At the beginning of the meeting, IKV Deputy Secretary-General and Research Director Melih Özsöz presented the foundation and its activities and gave an extensive analytical presentation on the political criteria mentioned in Turkey Progress Reports prepared yearly by the European Commission. In his presentation, Özsöz listed the 10 issues the most highlighted in the “Political Criteria and Enhanced Political Dialogue” sections of the sixteen Turkey Progress Reports published by the European Commission since 1998. These topics are as followed:

Kurdish issue, Terror and Combating Terrorism, Freedom of Expression and Thought, Cyprus Issue, Judiciary and Justice System, Implementation of Reforms, Torture and Ill-Treatment, Gender Equality and Women’s Rights, Military-Civil Oversight, Trade Union Rights.

During the meeting, it was emphasized that IKV is the only specialized institution that works in relation with EU Affairs since 1965. Over the years, it has become the voice of the civil society in the field of EU at the level of Eruopean institutions as well as of the Turkish government and relevant Ministries. Furthermore, Melih Özsöz referred to the importance of the works carried out by IKV in terms of raising awareness on EU Affairs and Turkey-EU relations among the Turkish public. It is foreseen that IKV and National Human Rights Institution will work together in the future in the areas of human rights and the Copenhagen Political Criteria.

During the meeting, particularly complaints mentioned in the European Parliament’s Report on Turkey in regards to freedom of expression and other human rights related issues were discussed within the perspective of the European Union

National Human Rights Institution, whose Presidency is assumed by former judge rapporteur at the Constitutional Court Dr. Hikmet Tülen, was established in 2012 in order to develop human rights protection and to prevent its violation, to fight against torture and ill-treatment, to examine complaints, to appeal and to follow their outcomes, to take necessary measure to resolve these issues, to organize the adequate trainings  to serve these targets as well as to conduct researches with the aim to monitor and evaluate the progress in the field of human rights within the scope of reforms implemented during the EU accession process.

Alongside wirh Chairman Hikmet Tülen and Member Ömer Cihad Vardan, the Honorary member of Court of Appeals, Selamet İlday; former Chairman of Mazlumder Yılmaz Ensaroğlu; Prof. Dr. Yusuf Şevki Hakyemez, Prof. Dr. Serap Yazıcı, Prof. Dr. Nihat Bulut, Prof. Dr. Abdurrahman Eren, Assistant Professor Dr. Levent Korkut specialized in Constitution Law as well as Lawyer Fatma Benli and Irfan Güven are also Member of the National Human Rights Institution.