Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe monitors Greece

Halit Habip Oğlu: The PACE closely follows the case of Xanthi Turkish Union, it is very important to convey the developments on the issue to Strasbourg

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted its 2017 annual Monitoring Report and the resolution at the PACE 2018 Winter Session on 25 January 2018 in Strasbourg. Developments in four countries namely Greece, Estonia, Hungary and Ireland in the last one year were debated in the report prepared by Cezar Florin Preda (Romania, EPP/CD).

There are two specific issues related to Western Thrace Turkish community among the recommendations to Greece in the resolution adopted after the voting at the PACE plenary session The PACE reiterated its call for the ratification of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities(FCNM) and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and requested Greece to fully implement the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights for promoting the rights of minorities in the country.

In the adopted resolution, the Assembly noted that it appreciated the adoption of the law which rendered sharia authorities utilized by muftis (appointed)preferential in the field of inheritance, marriage and divorce related to Western Thrace Turkish community and also enabled the Greek Civil Code applicable in the case that there is dispute among the parties.

The issue of Western Thrace Turks has been further mentioned in the report prepared by the Romanian parliamentarian and adopted by the PACE Monitoring Committee in December 2017. The report mentions that it is of concern that the Greek authorities do not recognise the concept of national minorities based on ethnicity and the Muslim minority in Thrace is the only recognised religious minority in Greece, in accordance with the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty. It is further noted that the Muslim minority in Thrace enjoy special rights with regard to their religion, language and mother-tongue education with the Treaty of Lausanne. Moreover, the report interpreted the adoption of the legislation known as 240 Imams Law, which is strongly objected by members of the Turkish community, and which allowed pupils of this minority group to participate in optional Islamic classes in Greek public schools as a positive note. Nevertheless, the limitation of sharia powers used by the muftis appointed by the state is interpreted as a positive step, but it is criticized by the Assembly that sharia law still applied in the country.

Furthermore, in the report prepared by Preda it is mentioned that that judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) related to three associations of Western Thrace Turkish community namely Xanthi Turkish Union, Rhodope Province Turkish Women Cultural Association and Evros Minority Youth Association are not executed and hence the Greek authorities violate the freedom of association. Besides, the legislation known as Xanthi Turkish Union law which disappointed Western Thrace Turkish community on the ground that it blocks implementation of ECtHR judgments with the new restrictions of national security and public order is commented as a positive step.

Halit Habip Oğlu, President of Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) explained: “Although issue of Western Thrace Turks in the report prepared by the Romanian parliamentarian is restricted with only sharia powers of the muftis(appointed) and freedom of association, there is no any reference to the criticisms of the Western Thrace Turks on these two issues.

Despite that Preda comments that adoption of the laws about the two issues at the Greek Parliament as a positive step by the Greek authorities, Western Thrace Turkish community has serious concerns related to these laws, yet, the both is very far from resolving the problems radically. Still, it is very important that the resolution calls Greece to fully implement judgments of the ECtHR for promoting minority rights. The legal process regarding Xanthi Turkish Union is closely being followed by the PACE, and we, ABTTF, are raising this very important issue at the visits we pay to Strasbourg, and we shall continue to do so”.