Riza Türmen

Dr. Rıza Türmen is a former Judge of the European Court of Human Rights and former MP from Izmir in the Turkish Parliament, from the Republican  People's Party. He was a member of the Turkish Delegation to the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea between 1973-1982. He participated in the bilateral talks between Turkey and Greece on the Aegean continental shelf. From 1989 to 1994, he served in Ankara as the Director General in charge of the Council of Europe, Human Rights, the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the United Nations. He was the Head of the Turkish Delegation to the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993. 

In 1998, Dr. Türmen was elected as the Turkish Judge to the European Court of Human Rights and served at the Court  for 10 years until 2008. He is the recipient of the Lawyer of the Year Award given by the Turkish Bar Association in 2009, the Distinguished Service Award by the Middle East Technical University in 2009, and the Freedom of the Press Award by the Turkish Journalists Association, also in 2009. He recently published a book on Human Rights in Turkey  with the title of "Power of the Powerless".