The catch-22 of human rights
Russia, Turkey, the Council of Europe and the ECHR
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
When they joined the Council of Europe, neither Turkey nor Russia were constitutional states. They were accepted in order to promote their passage to liberal constitutional statehood. This strategy has failed, however. Russia and Turkey are authoritarian states, the leaders of which call the goals of the Council of Europe – democracy, constitutional statehood and human rights – into question. The distance between the Council of Europe and the two states is growing. Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe deprived the Russian delegation of its voting rights. While Turkey has reduced its level of contributions, Russia has ceased to pay them entirely. In Moscow and Ankara, some politicians are demanding a withdrawal from the Council of Europe and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. However, the people who would suffer most from a withdrawal or an exclusion would be the victims of human rights abuses in Russia and Turkey.
(Osteuropa 10-12/2018, pp. 291–315)