THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STATE OF EMERGENCY AND ITS LIMITS A State of Emergency can be declared when there are serious indications of prevalent acts of violence that aim to overthrow the democratic order or remove basic rights and freedoms, or when public order is seriously disrupted by violence. Only under such circumstances, can measures that curtail fundamental rights and freedoms be introduced through emergency decrees to overcome these dangers. When determining these measures, the principle of last resort should be followed. Extraordinary measures should only be taken when ordinary measures and existing legislation fail to manage the risk or restore public order. Emergency decrees can only be declared in relation to issues pertaining to the emergency conditions. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) also presents certain limitations regarding the suspension of fundamental rights and freedoms due to a State of Emergency. According to Article 15, “In time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation, any High Contracting Party may take measures derogating from its obligations under [the] Convention to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with its other obligations under international law.” Following this limitation, it also underlines that no derogation from Article 2 on the right to life, Article 3 on the prohibition of torture, Article 4 on the freedom from slavery, and Article 7 on no punishment without law shall be made under this provision. Therefore, regardless of the reason, measures that result in the violation of these rights cannot be taken. The remaining rights and freedoms can only be limited in proportion with the exigencies of the emergency situation and these limitations shall not violate other obligations under international law. Despite the State of Emergency, which was declared on July 20, 2016, officially ending on July 18, 2018, Turkey largely remains under a de facto State of 12 C O L L E C T I V E R I G H T S O F W O R K E R S U N D E R T U R K E Y ’ S C O N T I N U O U S S TAT E O F E M E R G E N C Y T R A D E U N I O N R I G H T S I N E U R O P E A N A N D E U R O P E A N - A F F I L I AT E D E N T E R P R I S E S Emergency. The effects of new legislation and practices enacted through emergency decrees are still felt today. Even though the decrees have lost their legal basis, many practices remain and are being upheld by judicial institutions such as the Inquiry Commission on State of Emergency Measures or the courts. Moreover, some laws1 — which can be considered extensions of the emergency decrees— have been legislated by the Turkish Grand National Assembly.2 This also applies to labour rights. The atmosphere created, first by the official, then by de facto State of Emergency, still persists with the aforementioned negative historical legacy of labour rights in the background. Europe and Labour Rights in Turkey While this report will provide general information on collective workers’ rights in Turkey, it will specifically focus on the situation of companies from Europe. Under Turkey’s current continuous de facto State of Emergency regime, it is of interest to assess the performance of companies from Europe, where democratic standards are relatively high and the historical achievements of labour rights are deep-rooted. In Turkey, a significant number of European companies employ people as direct investors and thus are parties in employment relations. As the number and percentage of these companies in sum are increasing in Turkey, it should be examined to what extent the social rights of workers from Turkey are recognized, and to what extent their rights— guaranteed by the Constitution and legislation— are respected in practice. More broadly, Turkey is within the “European circle” in terms of social rights due to its Council of Europe membership and European Union candidacy process. Turkey ratified the Council of Europe’s Social Charter in 1961, and the Revised European Social Charter in 2007. With respect to the European Union, since 1998 the European Commission has been publishing regular progress reports for Turkey.3 In these reports, social rights are discussed under a separate chapter. Therefore in several ways Turkey is included in the framework of 1 https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2018/07/20180731-1.htm 2 https://www.ihd.org.tr/surekli-ohali-duzenleyen-7145-sayili-kanun-hakkinda/ 3 https://www.ab.gov.tr/regular-progress-reports_46224_en.html T H E L E G A L F R A M E W O R K O F T H E S TAT E O F E M E R G E N C Y A N D I T S L I M I T S 13