SELÇUK AND ASKER JUDGMENT OF 24 APRIL 1998 16 65. The Court recalls that the rule of exhaustion of domestic remedies referred to in Article 26 of the Convention obliges those seeking to bring their case against the State before an international judicial or arbitral organ to use first the remedies provided by the national legal system. However, there is no obligation under Article 26 to have recourse to remedies which are inadequate or ineffective. In addition, according to the “generally recognised rules of international law”, there may be special circumstances which absolve the applicant from the obligation to exhaust the domestic remedies at his disposal; one such reason being the failure of the national authorities to undertake an investigation or offer assistance in response to serious allegations of misconduct or infliction of harm by State agents (see the Akdivar and Others v. Turkey judgment of 16 September 1996, Reports 1996-IV, pp. 1210–11, §§ 65–69, and the Menteş and Others judgment cited at paragraph 53 above, p. 2706, § 57). 66. The application of the rule of exhaustion must make due allowance for the fact that it is being applied in the context of machinery for the protection of human rights that the Contracting Parties have agreed to set up. Accordingly, the Court has recognised that Article 26 must be applied with some degree of flexibility and without excessive formalism. The rule is neither absolute nor capable of being applied automatically. In reviewing whether it has been observed it is essential to have regard to the particular circumstances of each case. This means, amongst other things, that the Court must take realistic account of the general legal and political context in which the remedies operate, as well as the personal circumstances of the applicant or applicants (see the above-mentioned Menteş and Others judgment, p. 2707, § 58). 67. In this case, the Court is therefore required to have regard to the situation which existed in south-east Turkey at the time of the events complained of by the applicants characterised by violent confrontations between the security forces and members of the PKK (ibid.). In such a situation, as the Court has previously recognised, there may be obstacles to the proper functioning of the system of the administration of justice (see the above-mentioned Akdivar and Others judgment, pp. 1211–12, § 70). 68. The Court recalls its observation in the above-mentioned Menteş and Others judgment (p. 2707, § 59) that, despite the extent of the problem of village destruction, there appeared to be no example of compensation being awarded in respect of allegations that property had purposely been destroyed by members of the security forces or of prosecutions having been brought against them in respect of such allegations, and that there seemed to be a general reluctance on the part of the authorities to admit that this type of practice by members of the security forces had occurred.