Concerning terrorist activities in the south-eastern part of Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights has noted that the offence of “disseminating propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation” and its interpretation were not clear and that this provision should at any rate be interpreted restrictively in order to be in conformity with freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 10 ECHR, while national jurisdictions had interpreted it broadly in some cases; the Court insisted in particular on incitement to violence as an essential element of a legitimate restriction to this right. Furthermore, the Venice Commission has stated on previous occasions that the conditions under which the powers of a local elected official can be suspended and the verification procedure “should be established in a clear and precise manner, and consistently with the principle that the dismissal of an elected representative is an exceptional measure to be applied only in case of serious failures”.