KURT JUDGMENT OF 25 MAY 1998 39 Party against which the complaint has been lodged has declared that it recognises the competence of the Commission to receive such petitions. Those of the High Contracting Parties who have made such a declaration undertake not to hinder in any way the effective exercise of this right.” 154. The applicant further maintained that the steps taken by the authorities to institute criminal proceedings against her lawyer in connection with statements he had made pertaining to her application to the Commission were incompatible with their obligations under Article 25 § 1 (see paragraph 25 above). She relied once again on the Commission’s finding of a violation of that provision and the reasons it had adduced in support thereof. 155. The Government strenuously denied these assertions. They contended that the applicant was exploited throughout by the representatives of the Diyarbakır Human Rights Association for propaganda purposes in order to denigrate the image of the Turkish security forces. Mrs Kurt’s sole concern was to ascertain the whereabouts of her son but she unwittingly became caught up in the campaign of misinformation waged by that association against the Turkish State. 156. The Government insisted that the authorities had never brought pressure to bear on the applicant to withdraw her application to the Convention institutions. She had gone voluntarily to the notary in Bismil on two occasions in order to repudiate the falsehoods which the Diyarbakır Human Rights Association had made in her application. They maintained that the applicant had reported to the delegates at the hearing in Ankara that no pressure had been brought to bear on her to withdraw her application, and this was confirmed by Mr Arap Kurt who had accompanied her to the office of the notary. It was her own decision to abandon her complaint lodged with the Commission. 157. The Government also contended that the Commission was wrong in its conclusion that they were in violation of Article 25 § 1 on account of the fact that the authorities had contemplated instituting criminal proceedings against the applicant’s lawyer, Mr Şakar. They stressed that Mr Şakar had been under investigation for having aided and abetted the PKK. Any prosecution which would have been instituted would not have related to his involvement in the instant case; rather he would have been charged with membership of a terrorist organisation under Article 168 § 2 of the Turkish Criminal Code. 158. The Commission concluded that the authorities had not directly coerced the applicant. Nevertheless, and with particular regard to the circumstances of the applicant’s two visits to the notary in Bismil, they had applied improper indirect pressure in respect of her complaint to the Convention institutions. Furthermore, the threatened criminal proceedings against the applicant’s lawyer also gave rise to a serious interference with the exercise of the right of individual petition.