CEDH · PRESS;FORTHCOMINGJUDGMENTS;ENG — 7 novembre 2008

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   791 6.11.2008   Press release issued by the Registrar   FORTHCOMING GRAND CHAMBER JUDGMENT   12 November 2008   The European Court of Human Rights will be holding a public hearing in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on Wednesday 12 November 2008 at 3 p.m. (local time) to deliver its Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Demir and Baykara v. Turkey (application no.   34503/97).   The press release and the text of the judgment will be available after the hearing on the Court’s Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).     Demir and Baykara v. Turkey   Kemal Demir and Vicdan Baykara are Turkish nationals who were born in 1951 and 1958 respectively. Mr Demir lives in Gaziantep and Ms Baykara in Istanbul. At the material time Ms Baykara was the general secretary of the Tüm Bel Sen trade union and Mr   Demir was a member of that trade union.   The case concerns a finding by the Court of Cassation that Tüm Bel Sen had no separate legal personality and the consequent cancellation of a collective bargaining agreement it had entered into with Gaziantep Town Council.   Tüm Bel Sen was founded in 1990 by civil servants from various localities to promote democratic trade unionism and to serve the aspirations and needs of its members.   In 1993 it entered into a collective bargaining agreement with Gaziantep Town Council regulating all aspects of working conditions at the council, including salaries, benefits and welfare services. It later sued the council on the ground that it had defaulted on its obligations, in particular, those of a financial nature. It won the case at first instance.   However, on 6 December 1995 the Court of Cassation ruled that at the time Tum Bel Sen was founded the legislation in force did not permit civil servants to form unions and that Tum Bel Sen did not have legal personality.   Following an audit of the Gaziantep Municipal Council’s accounts by the Audit Court, the members of the Tüm Bel Sen union had to reimburse the additional income they had received as a result of the defunct collective agreement.   The applicants complain under Articles 11 (freedom of assembly and association) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights that the Turkish courts have denied them the right to form a trade union and to enter into a collective bargaining agreement.   On 21 November 2006 a Chamber of the Court held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 11 of the Convention.   On 23 May 2007 the Grand Chamber panel accepted the Government’s request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber under Article 43 [1] . A hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 16   January 2008 [2] .     *** Press contacts Adrien Raif-Meyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 33 37) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Sania Ivedi (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 59 45)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. [1] Under Article 43 of the European Convention on Human Rights, within three months from the date of a Chamber judgment, any party to the case may, in exceptional cases, request that the case be referred to the 17 ‑ member Grand Chamber of the Court. In that event, a panel of five judges considers whether the case raises a serious question affecting the interpretation or application of the Convention or its protocols, or a serious issue of general importance, in which case the Grand Chamber will deliver a final judgment. If no such question or issue arises, the panel will reject the request, at which point the judgment becomes final. Otherwise Chamber judgments become final on the expiry of the three-month period or earlier if the parties declare that they do not intend to make a request to refer. [2] This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.