The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) pronounced its judgment on a case seen as a litmus test for justice in the face of the orgy of state-sponsored violence that unfolded in the town of Cizre during blanket curfews imposed in response to Kurdish militants’ attempts to declare self-rule in towns and neighborhoods across Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast.

The Strasbourg-based body declared a case filed on behalf of Orhan Tunc and Omer Elci inadmissible. They were among more than 130 people who perished when Turkish security forces surrounded three buildings in Cizre during operations between December 2015 and February 2016. Human Rights Watch said the forces that laid siege to the buildings had “deliberately and unjustifiably killed about 130 people — among whom were unarmed civilians and injured combatants —trapped in the basements.”

In its reasoning, the ECHR asserted that “all domestic remedies had not been exhausted,” meaning the plaintiffs had not taken their case to Turkey’s Constitutional Court first. In general, litigants can only appeal their case in Strasbourg after the highest court of appeals in their country passes judgement against them. The European body has made exceptions to this rule but did not deem it necessary this time. It is unlikely to act differently in some 33 remaining cases that were filed by families who lost loved ones during the curfew. 

Lawyers representing Tunc’s family said they were stunned because the court had earlier issued an injunction in the victim's favor in January 2016, when he was wounded but still alive. At that time, the Constitutional Court rejected his appeal for the curfew and military operations to cease so that he could receive treatment for his injuries. The authorities also denied access for an ambulance to carry him to a hospital and he died soon after.