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WESTERN THRACE

The ECtHR judgments regarding the Bekir-Ousta and Others Group of Cases are still pending to be executed in their 14th anniversary 

28.03.2022

ABTTF President: “We know that the ECtHR judgments are not executed for political reasons, not legal ones. We now demand that the Committee of Ministers initiate the infringement procedure against Greece in June 2022 as a result of the examination.”

The judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding the closure of the Xanthi Turkish Union of the Turkish community in Western Thrace as well the failure to register the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Rodopi and the Evros Minority Youth Association altogether known as the Bekir-Ousta and Others Group of Cases have not been executed or the past 14 years. 

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled 14 years ago that Greece violated the right to freedom of association in the cases involving the Xanthi Turkish Union, which had been closed due to the word ‘Turkish’ in its name, and the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Rodopi, whose registration application was rejected in the judgment it rendered on 27 March 2008. On 11 October 2007, the ECtHR ruled that Greece had violated the freedom to form an association in a lawsuit filed by the Evros Minority Youth Association, whose registration application was rejected by national courts.

In the case group, which is being investigated by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe under the name of the Bekir-Ousta and Others Group of Cases, Greece has not executed the judgments for the past 14 years, disregarding ECtHR judgments and case-law. On the anniversary of the ECtHR judgments, the Xanthi Turkish Union indicated in a statement that as the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace that they are awaiting the Greek state, of which they are citizens, to apply international law for the past 14 years. Regarding the investigation launched by the Court of Cassation in June 2021, seven months after the Xanthi Turkish Union protested over the rejection of the association’s last application to the court regarding the restoration of its legal status and the execution of the ECtHR judgment, the Xanthi Turkish Union indicated that it considers the investigation as an effort to ‘intimidate’ and ‘target’ the Turkish community in Western Thrace.

“As the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we have been waiting for the execution of ECtHR judgments for 14 years, for 14 years! This is a great stain on Greece’s democratic and human rights system! Indeed, our first association established in our region, the Xanthi Turkish Union, was unlawfully closed, it has been engaged in legal struggles for the past 39 years. On the other hand, our associations, which are not allowed to be established, the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Rodopi and the Evros Minority Youth Association have been seeking justice for the past 14 years. Our country does not enforce ECtHR judgments in the three cases. On the other hand, another association, the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Xanthi, was not registered and applied to the ECtHR after the internal legal process was exhausted. We know that the ECtHR judgments are not executed for political reasons, not legal ones. We now demand that the Committee of Ministers initiate the infringement procedure against Greece in June 2022 as a result of the examination”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) as regards the anniversary of the ECtHR judgments. 

*Image: www.iskeceturkbirligi.org

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