Halit Habip Oğlu: “We call on our country Greece which constantly prides itself in being the ‘cradle of democracy’ to immediately implement the ECtHR judgments with respect to the Western Thrace Turkish associations and to fully respect the rights and freedoms of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.”
Greece took over the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 15 May 2020. During six months, the priorities of Greece which will be holding the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will be the protection of public health, ensuring respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, protection of vulnerable children and the rights of the younger generations in the fields of digital education, the environment and social issues. Germany will take over the chairmanship from Greece on 18 November.
“In Greece, which will be holding the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe until November 2020, the Turkish community in Western Thrace is ignored and being denied by the Greek state. The last example of this was during the official visit of the Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou to Western Thrace on 28-30 May 2020. Our President ignored and did not meet with us, the Turkish community in Western Thrace which constitutes the majority in Rhodope province and almost half of the population of the Xanthi province. Greece, which prioritises the guarantee of the rule of law during its chairmanship, has not implemented the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) of 2008 regarding the Xanthi Turkish Union, the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Region of Rodopi and the Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association and refuses persistently to implement these judgments for the last 12 years. We call on our country Greece which constantly prides itself in being the ‘cradle of democracy’ to immediately implement the ECtHR judgments with respect to the Western Thrace Turkish associations and to fully respect the rights and freedoms of the Turkish community in Western Thrace and we expect that it will act in accordance with the important task it is fulfilling as holding the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.coe.int/en/web/presidency
