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ELMIRA LYAPINA CYIL 14 (2023) minorities, such as the “ right to freedom of religion and Alevi families ” 59 and the Kurdish minority, 60 respectively. A recent report on the state not fulfilling its obligations under the ECtHR ruling is illustrated by the Kavala case 61 , regarding a political prisoner who was denied due process within the state, despite orders of the ECtHR in 2019 for his immediate release. In 2021, three organizations – Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, and the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project – submitted a recommendation to the Committee of Ministers on the non-execution and non-implementation of the ECtHR final judgment in this case by Türkiye. In 2022, the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR handed down a judgment on Türkiye’s failure to fulfill its obligations under Article 46 (§ 1) of the European Convention to comply with the ECtHR judgment in 2019. Remarkably, the infringement proceedings and ECtHR judgment of 2022 represented only the second time the European Court determined the state had not complied with a previously issued judgment. 62 The case execution is still pending despite active communication between the state and the Committee of Ministers. As to the implementation of ECtHR judgments regarding environmental sustainability and protection of human rights, that can be evaluated by the consequences of the 2023 earthquake, including the devastating conditions in which people found themselves, as well as the death toll in the affected region. The results of the earthquakes and aftershock research and analysis show the unpreparedness of Türkiye for seismic activity, especially regarding civil buildings, thus leading to unexpected economic losses and fatalities. 63 Current studies reveal constant violation of Turkish legislation on building standards, even in the early stages of the design processes. 64 That illustrates another failure to fulfill 59 See more on “Alevi cases”: Judgments of ECtHR in cases Izzettin Doğan and Others v. Turkey, 2016, Application No. 62649/10 , Mansur Yalçın and Others v. Turkey , 2015, Application No. 21163/11; KARADEMIR A., ŞEN M. The case of Alevis in Turkey: a challenge to liberal multiculturalism, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies , 2021, 21:1, 147-165, DOI: 10.1080/14683857.2020.1857075; also see: The case of Alevis in Turkey | PS: EUROPE. 2015. https://ps-europe.org/the-case-of-alevis-in-turkey-a-perpetual-discrimination-story/; Also: A pattern of Alevite massacres in Turkey . Duvar English. 2021. https://www.duvarenglish.com/a-pattern-of alevite-massacres-in-turkey-article-58086 ; Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. CoE. https://www.coe.int/en/web/execution/turkey. 60 On Kurdish cases see The ECHR and human rights violations against Kurds in Turkey. EC R&I Success stories. https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/projects/success-stories/all/echr-and-human-rights-violations against-kurds-turkey; also judgments of ECtHR in Kurt v. Turkey , 1998, Application Nos.15/1997/799/1002, Sürek and Özdemir v. Turkey , 1999, Applications Nos. 23927/94 and 24277/94, Akdivar and Others v. Turkey , 1996, Application No. 21893/93, Öcalan V. Turkey , 2005, Application No. 46221/99, Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. CoE. https://www.coe.int/en/web/execution/ turkey. 61 Judgment of ECtHR in Kavala v. Turkey , 2019, Application No. 28749/18. 62 Status of Execution, ECtHR case law database on Kavala v. Turkey : https://hudoc.exec.coe.int/ FRE#{%22EXECIdentifier%22:[%22004-55161%22]}; See also: Landmark judgment against Turkey for ignoring European ruling. Human Rights Watch. 2022. https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/12/landmark judgment-against-turkey-ignoring-european-ruling. 63 IŞIK, E., KUTANIS, M., BAL, I.E. Estimated loss and rating of earthquake risk in eastern Turkey, Gradjevinar , 2017, vol. 69 (7), pp. 581-592, doi: 10.14256/JCE.1242.2015. 64 CAGLAR, N., VURAL, I., KIRTEL, O., SARIBIYIK, A., SUMER, Y., Structural damages observed in buildings after the January 24, 2020 Elazığ-Sivrice earthquake in Türkiye, Case Studies in Construction Materials , 2023, Volume 18, e01886, ISSN 2214-5095, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2023.e01886.

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