In the meeting, ABTTF raised the issues regarding the restrictions on the registration of the associations whose names include the word “Turkish” despite the judgements of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the interventions on the religious autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) as a representative of the Turkish community in Western Thrace participated in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Human Dimension Implementation Meeting which was held in Warsaw, capital of Poland on 16-27 September 2019. K. Engin Soyyılmaz, ABTTF Head Office Manager attended the Europe’s largest annual human rights meeting.
The meeting brought together OSCE member states, international organisations, NGO representatives and human rights experts. In the session entitled “fundamental freedoms, including freedom of peaceful assembly and association” which was held on 19th September, ABTTF stated that the associations belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace whose names include the word “Turkish” have been shut down and are not allowed to be registered. ABTTF noted that for 11 years, Greece has not been implementing persistently the judgements of ECtHR against itself on Xanthi Turkish Union, Cultural Association of Turkish Women in the Prefecture of Rhodopi and Evros Minority Youth Association included in the “Bekir Ousta” group of cases. ABTTF added that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe monitors closely the implementation of these judgements. ABTTF indicated that Xanthi Turkish Union applied for the restoration of its legal entity after the law 4491/2017 was adopted to allegedly pave the way for the implementation of the ECtHR judgements however the application of Xanthi Turkish Union was rejected by the Court of Appeal in Thrace. ABTTF added that the appeal of the association to the Court of Cassation will be heard on 20 March 2020. ABTTF called Greece to fully respect the freedom of association of the Turkish community in Western Thrace and take measures immediately for the implementation of the three judgements taken by the ECtHR against itself.
Greece used its right to reply and repeated its official opinion. Greece expressed that the state only recognises “the Muslim minority in Thrace” by denying the existence of the Turks in Western Thrace. Greece indicated that tens of minority associations regularly carry on its activities and the amendment on Civil Procedure Code was made in October 2017 for the implementation of ECtHR in domestic law.
In the session where freedom of religion or belief was discussed, ABTTF highlighted that Greece tries to abolish the autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of religion through unilateral policies and implementations. ABTTF noted that Greece does not recognise the Muftis who are elected by the Turkish community in Western Thrace. Furthermore, ABTTF said that by the recent Presidential Decree entered into force in June 2019, in violation of the religious autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace guaranteed by the international treaties, the Mufti offices are going to be transformed into ordinary government offices and put under full state control through the affiliation of Mufti offices to the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs.
You can view the statements of ABTTF through the links below: https://www.osce.org/odihr/431054?download=true https://www.osce.org/odihr/431063?download=true
