Refah Partisi v. Türkiye: Democracy Derailed or Secularism Shielded?
by Ahmet Said Aydil
Question(s) at stake
Whether the dissolution of Refah Partisi for its alleged secret efforts to establish sharia law within a plurality of legal systems was justified and compatible with Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Outcome of the ruling
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)considered the actions and speeches of some of Refah’s members and its president, which were found to be indicative of Refah’s alleged hidden long-term policy to establish sharia law within a plurality of legal systems, to be attributable to the party as a whole. The Grand Chamber found that the dissolution of Refah met a pressing social need. The Court considered the severity of the interference, along with the temporary ban on certain political activities for some members, to be proportionate to the aims pursued. Consequently, the Grand Chamber found no violation of Article 11 of the Convention.
Country:
Official citation
Refah Partisi (The Welfare Party) and Others v. Turkey, App. nos. 41340/98, 41342/98, 41343/98, and 41344/98, 13 February 2003
Topic(s)
Keywords:
Political associations Political opinion Laïcite
Tag(s):
Laiklik Secularism Political Pluralism Kemalism Sharia Medina Charter Theocracy Legal pluralism
Bibliographic information
Access case report
View case report in the CUREDI databaseAbout the authors
Ahmet Said Aydil (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Department Law and Anthropology, Germany)
Ahmet Said Aydil is a PhD Candidate in the Law and Anthropology Department at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkiye). Following his graduation, he completed his legal internship, working in areas such as commercial law, international arbitration law, criminal law, and administrative law. In 2020 he passed the Turkish Bar and became a licensed attorney.
Aydil also holds an LLM from the Europa Institute, Saarland University, in International and European Human Rights Protection Law and European Economic Law. Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Thomas Giegrich, his master’s thesis analysed the decline in human rights commitmens in Europe, driven by the rise of populist politics and the mishandling of the refugee influx of 2015, and evaluated potential remedies at the European Union and Council of Europe levels. His current research falls within the framework of the database project “Cultural and Religious Diversity under State Law across Europe” (CUREDI) at the MPI.