Freedom of Political Parties in Human Rights Law or to Rethink of (30 June 2009 dated) “Judgement of Batasuna” of ECHR

This article discusses questions of whether a political party can be dissolved in a democratic society. If so, with what justification? What is the position of the European Court of Human Rights, Inter- American Court of Human Rights, UN Human Rights Committee and African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights? These questions will be considered through the example of Turkey, Spain and Germany. Freedom of political parties in Turkey emerged as one of the major problems of Turkish democracy specifically from 1960s to 2000s with the dissolution of many political parties. Democracy needs political parties for its survival and functioning, and political parties need effective political democracy for their existence. But, the dissolution of political parties for democracy constitute one of the most important problems threatening the freedom of political parties and democracy. This article concluded that some answers of that questions: How can democracy defend itself? Can political parties be challenged in the name of democracy?