The third programme of the online programme series entitled “Facts about our Country” organised on the Zoom platform by the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) was realised on 27 January 2022.
The guest of the third programme, moderated by ABTTF International Relations Director Melek Kırmacı Arık, was Panayote Dimitras, spokesperson for the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) and a member of the Board of the Strasbourg-based European Implementation Network (EIN). Dimitras answered questions posed by Kırmacı with respect to the state of human rights in Greece and the human rights cases against Greece before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
In response to a question about how he assesses the state of human rights in Greece, including migrants, minorities and other vulnerable groups, Dimitras said that the lack of human rights culture in Greece has even more affected the country’s vulnerable groups. Indicating that when democracy was restored in Greece in 1974 that this concerned only the majority, Dimitras noted that democracy remains on hold in the context of the lack of recognition of the ethnic identity for the country’s Turkish and Macedonian minorities and that there is a cross-party consensus in the country on this particular issue.
Dimitras further explained that among the cases against Greece before the ECtHR, the Bekir-Ousta and Others Group of Cases, which are comprised of associations of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, constitutes the worst case for Greece, adding that the decision of the Greek Court of Cassation in 2021 had exhausted the long-running legal process initiated by the Xanthi Turkish Union (XTU). Dimitras said that if the Greek Court of Cassation does not change its case-law before the decision of the two other associations in this case group that are the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Rodopi Province and the Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association, in two months, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will have to launch the infringement procedure against Greece.
Noting that the ECtHR has twice ruled against Greece in the case regarding the House of Macedonian Civilization of the Macedonian minority, and that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has established a link between this case and the Bekir-Ousta and Others Group of Cases, Dimitras noted that if Greece does not execute the ECtHR judgement on the case regarding the House of Macedonian Civilization, the Committee of Ministers can initiate the infringement procedure for this case, or that the infringement procedure can be initiated by combining it with the Bekir-Ousta and Others Group of Cases.
In response to a question about how he considers the illegal pushbacks of the asylum seekers by Greece in the Aegean Sea, Dimitras said that GHM has filed more than 200 cases involving 10,000 victims at the national level, adding that not only pushbacks but people’s belongings have been stolen, women have been harassed and asylum seekers have been tortured as punishment. Noting that this practice of torture was more intensely practiced than torture in 1967-1974, Dimitras indicated this is what Greece is doing to protect its borders.
Stressing that there is no human rights culture in Greece, as the head of the United Nations (UN) treaty body who visited the country 20 years ago said, Dimitras said that the Greek authorities should first accept this fact and create an action plan for the development of a culture of human rights.
To watch the entire programme, which was also broadcasted live on ABTTF’s YouTube channel and Facebook page:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv-saZtYOkc&t=1s
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/939989616164959/videos/463342005486075
