ÇAKICI v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 18 failure to exhaust domestic remedies. In the alternative, they argued that the applicant’s complaints were not substantiated by the evidence. THE LAW I. THE COURT’S ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTS 72. The Court recalls its established case-law that under the Convention system prior to 1 November 1998 the establishment and verification of the facts were primarily a matter for the Commission (former Articles 28 § 1 and 31). While the Court is not bound by the Commission’s findings of fact and remains free to make its own assessment in the light of all the material before it, it is only in exceptional circumstances that it will exercise its powers in this area (see, amongst other authorities, the Akdivar and Others v. Turkey judgment of 16 September 1996, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996-IV, p. 1214, § 78). 73. The Government, in their memorial and oral pleadings, submitted that the Commission’s evaluation of the evidence was defective in that it had, inter alia, failed to take into account certain contradictions and weaknesses in the testimony of the applicant, Remziye Çakıcı and Mustafa Engin and had taken into account irrelevant matters, such as the alleged defects in custody records. They invited the Court to reconsider the Commission’s findings of fact. 74. In the instant case, the Court recalls that the Commission reached its findings of fact after a delegation had heard evidence in Ankara and in Strasbourg (see paragraph 43 above). It finds that the Commission approached its task of assessing the evidence before it with the requisite caution, giving detailed consideration to the elements which supported the applicant’s account and those which cast doubt on its credibility. In particular, the Commission scrutinised carefully the evidence deriving from Mustafa Engin and Ertan Altınoluk, the gendarmerie officer who conducted the operation at the village of Çitlibahçe. 75. In the Court’s view, the criticisms made by the Government do not disclose any matter of substance which might warrant the Court exercising its own powers of verifying the facts. In these circumstances, the Court accepts the facts as established by the Commission. 76. In addition to the difficulties inevitably arising from a fact-finding exercise of this nature, the Commission was unable to obtain certain documentary evidence and testimony that it deemed essential for the fulfilment of its functions. The Commission found that the Government had failed to provide the Commission’s delegates with the opportunity to inspect