Turkey - Democracy at stake: Turkey orders Istanbul re-vote, posing questions for democracy

Turkey will hold fresh elections for the mayor of Istanbul after the ruling party of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the first vote, in which an opposition MP beat Erdogan's candidate, contained errors.

Markets saw it as further confirmation of the country's slide into one-man rule, with the lira dropping against the US dollar. The decision could "severely damage" Turkish voters' "trust", the Council of Europe in Strasbourg said.
 
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Turkey: Rights watchdog to visit Turkey over rule of law= - by Eric Maurice

The head of the human rights watchdog Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, is going to Turkey next week amid a proposed roadmap from Ankara to fastrack EU-required reforms, in order to lift visa restrictions on Turks.

But his visit, the third to Turkey since the failed military coup in July 2016, also comes amid renewed tensions between Ankara and the EU.

Jagland is hoping detained journalists will be released from jail and is meeting Turkey's ministers of justice and foreign affairs to discuss options when it comes to the state of emergency and the freedom of expression.

"Our principle is that journalists should not be locked merely for reporting about terrorism. Writing about terrorists doesn't automatically make you a terrorist yourself," Jagland's spokesperson Daniel Holtgen, said in an email.

Turkey's troubled justice system will also be on the agenda. Last month, the nation's top constitutional court demanded the release of two reporters, Mehmet Altan and Sahin Alpay but later reportedly changed its position. Both are facing life sentences.

Holtgen said the constitutional court is seen as "key to implementing the European Convention of Human Rights in Turkey."

The Altan and Alpay case appears to have resonated with Turkey's ambassador to the European Union, Faruk Kaymakci, who told reporters last week the country is going through a difficult time.

"It is a very interesting case but the problem again here is because we are going through a very complex time, a very complicated time," he said.

Read more: Rights watchdog to visit Turkey over rule of law

Poland: Protests as Poland's Radical Right Wing Government Rejects Top Court Ruling

Poland's Government overrules top 
court and Council of Europe

Poland's Right Wing Law and Justice (PiS) government on Saturday, March 12, said it would ignore a Constitutional Tribunal ruling invalidating its legal reforms, a day after a European rights body argued the controversial changes to the top court threatened democracy and the rule of law.

Since winning October elections, the PiS has pushed through a number of reforms in the media, constitutional court and other institutions that have garnered criticism and concern from the EU, United States and other rights institutions.

The latest battle lines have been drawn over the constitutional court, after PiS passed amendents in December increasing the number of judges to make a ruling, requiring the court to review cases in the order they were received, and changing the threshold for a decision from a simple majority to a two-thirds majority.

Critics argue the changes are designed to slow down the court and render it dysfunctional in order to prevent judges from blocking controversial PiS legislation.

On Friday,March 11 the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, made a non-binding judgment that the changes had "crippled" the Constitutional Tribunal and "endangered not only the rule of law but also the functioning of the democratic system."

The Council of Europe also said the government must follow the constitutional court's decision.

That judgment is likely to put Poland on a fresh collision course with the EU, which has referred Poland to a review at the European Commission over concerns of a retrenchment of democracy and rule of law.

A negative decision from the EU's executive body could lead to Poland losing its voting rights at the EU level.

On Saturday, Poland's government said it would ask parliament to review the Venice Commission's judgment but would still not recognize the Constitutional Tribunal's ruling.

The government has refused to officially publish the top court's findings, effectively blocking them from going into force.

Read more: Protests as Poland rejects top court ruling | News | DW.COM | 12.03.2016