Members of State of Emergency Commission named

Turkish officials have announced the members of a State of Emergency Procedures Investigation Commission that was established to receive the complaints of tens of thousands of people who have been affected by the ongoing state of emergency.

The Justice Ministry's deputy undersecretary, Salahaddin Menteş, was named as the head of the commission, while Court of Cassation Deputy Secretary General Mehmet Karagöz, Supreme Court Judge Murat Aytaç, Deputy Chief Inspector Hasan Şıldak, Justice Ministry Probation Department head Esat Işık, Education Ministry Appointments Department head Mustafa İkbal and State Supervisory Board (DDK) member Salih Tanrıkulu were named as the other members.

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım received Menteş and the commission members at his office at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters on late May 16.

The commission was established on Jan. 23 with a decree law in order to receive objections to the state of emergency rulings, which are mostly related to the dismissal of public officials, the closure of institutions and organizations and imprisonments.

The formation of the commission was seen as a bid to reduce the amount of criticism from European institutions, as decrees issued under the state of emergency rules are closed to appeal and thus closed to any domestic legal remedies. The Constitutional Court has also ruled that decrees issued by the government during the state of emergency rule are outside its remit, ruling out the possibility of any related individual applications. 

The right to individually apply to the high court was originally granted in order to ease the high amount of application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

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