In its judgement dated November 20, 2018, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) stated that Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş was arrested for political reasons, and decided for his relase regarding the 18th article. AKP President and President Erdoğan reacted the verdict and said 'ECHR decisions does not bind us. We'll finish them off with a countermove. 

 

 Erdoğan have applied to ECHR 3 times before, demanding that the obstacles preventing him from engaging in politics be removed

 

 

The first application submitted to the ECHR by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in the year 1999. After the sentence, which was given to him due to a speech that he made in 1997, was upheld, Erdoğan appealed to the ECtHR, stating that his right to a fair trial had been violated.

 

After completing his term in prison, Erdoğan applied to the courts in Turkey, requesting that his criminal record be erased so that he could enter elections as an MP candidate. When his applications remained inconclusive, he appealed to the ECHR for the second time.

 

 In September 2002 that Erdoğan appealed to the ECHR for the third and last time. After the Supreme Election Council (YSK) ruled that he was not eligible to be an MP, he appealed to the court by stating, "We will use our right to seek justice to the last possible point."

 

After being elected as Prime Minister in 2003, Erdoğan withdrew all of his previous applications to the ECHR.

 

During the diplomatic crisis with the Netherlands in 2017, President Erdoğan announced that they would submit an application to the ECHR.

 

In his speech dated March 13, 2017, Erdoğan said, "They do not recognize the law. They refer to the international law when it is for their benefit. Didn't we go through this at the ECHR? Now, you will see. We will go to ECHR."