Osman Kavala v Turkey: unravelling the Matryoshka dolls

Osman Kavala v Turkey is emblematic of many existing and structural problems in Turkey. While each issue deserves close attention in its own right, they are also inextricably intertwined. Each issue is either a result or a cause of one another — factors that cumulatively contributed to the judicial farce and injustice that Kavala faced domestically. The metaphor of Matryoshka dolls comes to mind when looking at the oddities of this particular case and the different layers of human rights challenges underlying it. This piece focuses in on the European Court of Human Right’s substantive findings in the judgment and examines whether the Court has unraveled and revealed what is at the core of this particular Turkish Matryoshka doll. It also explores the newly appointed Turkish Judge Yüksel’s dissenting opinion, which clearly challenges the gist of the majority’s significant findings in the judgment.