On 23 September, in partnership with Diyarbakır Bar Association, Van Bar Association and the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales, KHRP recently held a strategy meeting in Van to discuss the controversial compensation law for the internally displaced in Turkey, Law 5233.

The Turkish government defines the purpose of this law as one to compensate those who have incurred losses caused by terrorist actions or by due to the ‘struggle against terrorism’ and details the principles and procedures to compensation under these circumstances. Recent fact-finding missions and research by KHRP have shown this law to be seriously flawed both in its design and implementation, despite having been deemed by the European Court of Human Rights to provide an adequate remedy for displacement. While these shortcomings were put forth at the roundtable, the greater focus was to discuss ways in which the legislation could nonetheless be used to acquire adequate compensation for internally displaced persons at the domestic and European level.