Limiting Procedural Rights During Police Interrogation in Terror Crimes: A Comparative Analysis of European and U.S. Laws and Suggestions to Turkish Law

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to Turkish counterterrorism law through a comparative law analysis on procedural rights in police interrogation. It compares the scope and roots of the right to counsel, the right to silence and the right to be notified of these rights in the U.S., the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments and Turkey. Particularly, it scrutinizes the conditions under which these rights can be restricted in emergency circumstances and in cases when unscrupulous defense counsel aims to obstruct justice or further terrorism by abusing their communication with a terror suspect. Firstly, the article proposes that Turkey should establish a public safety exception to the right to counsel and the right to be informed of procedural rights when there is an urgent need to protect the life, liberty and bodily integrity of individuals. Secondly, it addresses a common problem stated by senior Turkish counterterrorism officials in interviews: defense counsel may be engaged with the terrorist organization of a suspect, coerce him to give a statement in a particular way, or facilitate information exchange. The article recommends that Turkey should enact an amendment allowing the replacement of unethical defense counsel with another lawyer through a magistrate judge order.