Turkish justice minister meets European court president

STRASBOURG (A.A) - December 1, 2011 - Turkey's justice minister gathered together with the head of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg on Thursday. Sadullah Ergin and Nicolas Bratza discussed applications to the ECHR from Turkey, as well as legal reforms to be made to reduce those applications and ways to overcome problems in implementation of those legal amendments. Ergin later met Turkey's judge in ECHR, Isin Karakas, and reviewed steps to be taken to diminish applications to ECHR from Turkey. Minister Ergin then held talks with Turkish jurists at the ECHR.  Ergin will meet members of the Venice Commission later on Thursday and take up Turkey's efforts to re-write a constitution. In case of any demand from Council of Europe (COE) member or candidate states, the Venice Commission extends legal support to constitutional amendments through independent experts.