04/04/2013 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg, 04.04.2013 – PACE rapporteur Jordi Xuclà (Spain, ALDE) has welcomed the recent establishment of the Ombudsman institution in Turkey. Speaking at the end of a fact-finding visit to Ankara in connection with the preparation of his report on strengthening the institution of Ombudsman in Europe, Mr Xuclà said: “For a long time Turkey remained the biggest member state of the Council of Europe without an institution of this type. Now that it has been set up, it needs some time to become a mature and fully effective institution.”
Despite a generally positive assessment of the first months of the implementation of the Ombudsman Law, there were some outstanding issues which needed further reconsideration, the rapporteur pointed out, such as the lack of competence to seize the Constitutional Court, or the procedure for appointing the five deputy Ombudsmen.
Turkey’s Ombudsman Law was passed in June 2012 and the Head Ombudsman was appointed in November 2012. The Ombudsman’s Office started receiving complaints on 29 March 2013.
During his visit, Mr Xuclà spoke with the Head Ombudsman Mehmet Nihat Őmeroğlu, the Deputy Ombudsman Mehmet Elkatmiş, members of their cabinet, the Deputy Undersecretary in the Ministry of Justice Kenan Őzdemir, members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and representatives of human rights associations.