[JURIST] Turkish citizens hae filed 5,363 cases in the European Court of Human Rights [official website] over a purge carried out by the Turkish government in response to July’s coup, according to the president of the court, Guido Raimondi [official profile]. At a press conference on Thursday, Raimondi said [press release, PDF] that the number of cases from Turkey had dramatically increased since the failed coup. Including the other 2,945 cases filed by Turks [EurActiv report] unrelated to the coup, the number of cases from Turkey has quadrupled since 2015. However, Raimondi praised Ankara’s decision to establish a special committee to hear complaints.

Tensions between Turkey and the EU have heightened since Turkey’s crackdown following the attempted coup to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Since then the government has dismissed [JURIST report] 10,000 civil servants with links to the plotters of coup. In September Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said [JURIST report] that approximately 32,000 people had been arrested in relation to the coup attempt, and 70,000 had been questioned. In November Erdoğan threatened [JURIST report] to send a new wave of migrants to Europe following a vote to halt negotiation [JURIST report] over EU membership. On Thursday a top Greek court ruled against extradition [JURIST report] of eight Turkish soldiers. This was the final decision after lower courts in December said only three soldiers should remain in Greece [JURIST report].