ABTTF President: “The politicised higher judiciary in our country persistently rejects the requests for the restoration of the official legal status of our oldest association, the Xanthi Turkish Union, and the official registration of the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Rodopi and the Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association. Moreover, it constantly delivers negative decisions regarding our associations’ appeals against all warnings of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, of which our country is a member’’.
The civil society network called Civil Liberties Union for Europe examined the current situation of the rule of law in the European Union (EU) in its fifth annual report titled ‘‘Liberties, Rule of Law Report 2024’’.
In the report, which allocated 46 pages to Greece, it is noted that there has been no improvement in the justice system in the country since last year, and that the appointment procedures of senior positions of judges and prosecutors continue to raise concerns, that the public have little faith in the judiciary and that the judiciary is politicised and influenced by commercial interests.
The report notes that the ability of the legislative body to actually examine the actions of the executive has been further weakened, and that high judges and prosecutors, such as the President and Deputy Presidents of the Court of Cassation, the Council of State or the Court of Audit, are affected by presidential decree in a process that is followed by the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, based on a proposal of the Minister of Justice and the opinion of the relevant parliamentary body.
The report indicates that the judiciary is not involved in the appointment procedure and that the Constitution excludes unsuccessful candidates from contesting the decision before an independent court.
“The aforementioned report is another very important warning from Europe to our country and the government, following the resolution of the European Parliament underscoring that the rule of law in our country Greece is gradually eroding and being systematically violated. This independent report, which is a ‘‘shadow report’’ to the European Commission’s 2024 Rule of Law Report, to which ABTTF also contributed, clearly reveals that the judiciary in our country is not independent and is directly under the control of the political sphere. This is exactly why the Court of Cassation (Arios Pagos) ignored the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights against our country regarding three associations belonging to our community. The politicised higher judiciary in our country persistently rejects the requests for the restoration of the official legal status of our oldest association, the Xanthi Turkish Union, and the official registration of the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Rodopi and the Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association. Moreover, it constantly delivers negative decisions regarding our associations’ appeals against all warnings of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, of which our country is a member. While all of Europe perceives the deplorable state of the rule of law in our country, our country’s denial of this by still attempting to hide it is damaging its reputation in the international arena more and more each day. Our country must stop hiding behind excuses and, as a democratic state, must fully respect the principle of the rule of law and fundamental rights’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
