The European Court of Human Rights and Turkey: A New Era for Minorities

In the 2000s, Turkey’s status as a signatory of the ECHR enabled the use of strategic human rights litigation to secure changes in Turkish law. This has enabled members of minorities dispossessed of property at the end of the Ottoman Empire to prosecute their claims. This panel discusses the little-known story of the processes involved in securing internal legal reform in Turkey, the ways in which the claims process has affected minority communities, and the consonance of the process with basic principles of Islamic law.