Abstract:

The Council of Europe (CoE) which has been the widest regional intergovernmental organization in Europe since 1949, endeavours to protect human rights, rule of law and pluralistic democracy, which constitute the fundamental values of this organization. The Council of Europe, whose members encounter the problem of terrorism, has developed legal mechanisms aimed at drawing a framework for the activities of member countries and the organization. As terrorism affects most of the member states, it has become necessary to fi nd common solutions to this grave problem, which constitute a big threat to the democratic state of law and the fundamental values which are the foundations of the Council of Europe.The Council of Europe has created an important legal framework in line with the characteristics of terrorism against Europe in order to mobilize the member states for a more effi cient and coordinated counter-terrorism. Furthermore, institutional mechanisms have also been developed for monitoring effi cient implementation of legal documents and for developing solutions for new trends in relation to terrorist acts.Turkey, which is regarded as de facto founding member of the Council of Europe, actively participates in the CoE activities in the fi eld of counterterrorism as one of countries most affected by terrorism. From this perspective, this study intends to set forth the legal and institutional struggle of the Council of Europe against this important problem which constitutes a serious threat against the rule of law-based systems of member countries

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