The systemic equivalence test constitutes an important tool in European Human Rights Law: It is used in order to structure the different systems of protection that apply in a common space and to common addressees. More precisely, where there is “systemic” equivalence between different legal orders protecting fundamental rights, a presumption of compatibility of concrete legal acts is applied. While this technique is very useful in the context of a multi-layered legal landscape, this systemic approach currently seems to be very poorly conceptualized by the various judicial instances calling upon it. This may entail risks for the protection of fundamental rights in Europe, as certain acts may benefit from a presumption of conformity even though they are adopted by legal systems that do not have the qualities required to benefit from it. This article critically assesses this technique, and provides avenues for improvement of its use.

This study is part of a larger project on the Landscapes of the Eastern Question, contextualizing the architecture of diplomacy in İstanbul as a symbolic and material refraction of changing power balances and representational strategies. In Beyoğlu, where most of the main diplomatic residences were located, the embassies were originally Ottoman wooden konak structures, but, in time, the increasing influence of Russia, Great Britain and France fostered their monumentalization and the adoption of European academic classicism. By contrast, the summer embassies on the European shore of the Bosphorus remained largely local in terms of technology, image, materials, and spatial layout until the end of the Ottoman Empire. The paper argues that, for many diplomats, a stately winter residence representing national identity, along with a summer house in the spirit of the local traditions, would be used as a communicative and performative resource in the drama of European-Ottoman relations. It also evaluates foreign settlement on the northern shore of the Bosphorus as conforming to a strategy of surveillance and control in keeping with the strategic relevance and contested status of the straits.

Kadi – Autonomy – Supremacy – EU legal order – Relationship between EU and UN – Terrorism – (National) Freezing Measures – Effects of annulment – Fundamental Rights – Right to effective legal protection – Right to property – Substantive versus formal hierarchy of norms – Comity – Relationship between Court of Justice and General Court – Bosphorus – Solange – Role and function of the Court of Justice

A female great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, was caught by a tuna hand-liner in the Bosphorus Strait, in late March 1968. Its total length was estimated to be 551 cm and precaudal length 433 cm. Carcharodon carcharias now seems to be extinct from the Sea of Marmara due to the decline of tuna populations in the Marmaric waters.

To this day the founding treaties of the European Union contain no legally binding bill of rights in the traditional sense protecting religion, privacy, family life, the freedom of expression, and so forth. As we all know, while the European Court of Justice initially rejected appeals relying on fundamental rights as found in national constitutions, the Court changed its position under pressure of German courts.

No competence to review EC regulations implementing Security Council resolutions, according to the Court of First Instance – Worst of both worlds: critique from the perspectives of international law and Community law – Alternative approach on the basis of the firmly established European solange tradition.

The position of human rights within the European Union legal order has been an issue since the early years of the original European Economic Community. For many years, the development of human rights as general principles of Community law was characterized by dialogue and debate between the Communities' Court of Justice on the one hand, and certain national constitutional courts on the other, as regards the protection of human rights recognized in national constitutions by the Community legal order. But in recent years, there has been a parallel dialogue between the Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, as regards the Community legal order's protection of the rights guaranteed by the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).

The Strait of Istanbul which constitutes one of the major and busiest seaways in the world links the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, it is a narrow “S-shaped” channel, open day and night for international shipping. Currents and darkness are the two dominant factors causing marine casualties in the Bosphorus. In this regard, Yenikoy and Umuryeri (or Umur Banki) are the two critical areas where most of the stranding and grounding casualties occur as vessels negotiate sharp turns (80° at Yenikoy, 70° at Umuryeri). The casualty case investigations reveal that in most of the incidents, vessels lose their manoeuvrability in the course of taking a sharp turn with the current. The number of casualties occurring in darkness was found to be nearly twice the number of occurring in daylight. A total of 461 marine casualties of different types occurred in this tricky strip of water during the period 1953–2002, the majority being collisions. Since 1994 when the TSS was introduced there have been 82 marine casualties the majority of which have been groundings/strandings.

This paper examines marine casualties in-depth in relation to casualty types, numbers of ships, the localities where most incidents occur, and external factors such as currents and darkness that contribute to marine casualties in the Strait. The major factors are deduced in order to suggest possible solutions.