Özet:

Since the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental  Freedoms (the European Convention on Human Rights), which is accepted to  have set up the most effective human rights regime, draws up the rights and  freedoms that the contracting states are obliged to secure in a conceptual and  open-ended manner, the Convention must be aptly interpreted. The European  Court of Human Rights having a large area in interpreting and applying the  Convention developed autonomous principles, methods and technics as well as  using the traditional interpretation methods of international law. European  consensus is one of the most important interpretative techniques that the ECtHR  invokes in determining the meaning of the provisions of the Convention and  whether the rights in question have been violated. In this context the ECtHR may  identify whether there is a European consensus related to the matter in hand by  taking into consideration relevant developments in the law and practice of the  contracting states and international law, and may define the meaning and scope  of a Convention provision in these premises. However European consensus,  which is the creation of the ECtHR, has not been clearly defined, nor  established and applied coherently. Furthermore there are various reservations  and evaluations on the legal basis of European consensus mostly used to evolve  and expand the rights. The purpose of this Article is to examine all the  aforementioned issues. 

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