Home > 1. The principles of Europe's electoral heritage > TÜRKIYE - Opinion on the Amendments to the Constituion Adopted by the Grand National Assembly on 21 January 2017 and to be Submitted to a National Referendum on 16 April 2017
 
 
 
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Paragraph 40
 

has been pointed out that Turkish parliamentary elections were held in 2002 when a state of emergency was ongoing and it seems that democratic principles were relatively well maintained. Similarly, presidential elections are currently ongoing in France despite a state of emergency being in place. These analogies are not pertinent. During Turkey’s 2002 elections the state of emergency was limited to a specific geographic area unlike the current nationwide state of emergency, and it did not entail large-scale limitations of human rights applicable to the whole of the population of the country. In the case of the upcoming French presidential and parliamentary elections, the measures implemented under the state of emergency are significantly less obstructive as regards the functioning of the institutions and civil and political rights.