ABTTF President: “The fact that an investigation was launched 7 months after the protest by the Xanthi Turkish Union and that the President of the Xanthi Turkish Union testified with the allegation of threats to public order and spreading fake news due to his speech at the march, beyond the alleged violation of COVID-19 measures in this investigation, proves that the investigation is not only relevant to the alleged violation of pandemic measures.”
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will examine the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) concerning the Xanthi Turkish Union (XTU), the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Rodopi and the Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association under the name of the ‘Bekir-Ousta and Others Group of Cases’ regarding the associations belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace on 8-10 June 2022.
In this group of cases, the ECtHR ruled that Greece had violated the freedom of association in 2008 due to the closure of the XTU and the failure to register the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Rodopi and the Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association. The Committee of Ministers, which has been examining the developments in this case group since 2008, also considers the information submitted by the plaintiff associations, relevant non-governmental organisations and the defendant country regarding the developments in the execution of the ECtHR judgments and the disruptions in this process.
In this context, Greece responded on 1 June 2022 to the letters dated 25 February 2022 and 4 March 2022 of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), which stated that the Xanthi Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation 7 months later regarding the march organised by the XTU on 10 July 2021 and noted that it constituted an attempt to intimidate the Turkish community in Western Thrace and demanded that this negative development be taken into consideration by the Committee in the June review.
In its response to the Committee of Ministers four months after the XTU and ABTTF’s letters to the Committee of Ministers, Greece stated that the judicial authorities are bound by the basic principle and obligation of confidentiality of the investigation phase, arguing that the silence of the judicial authorities does not mean that the XTU and ABTTF accept the ‘allegations and accusations’.
Referring to its jurisdiction, Greece claimed that it would be wrong for the Committee of Ministers to assess that the claims of the XTU and ABTTF are well-founded. Alleging that the investigation into the violation of measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus has nothing to do with ECtHR judgments, Greece indicated on the contrary that the XTU and ABTTF are trying to influence the outcome of the ongoing prosecution by creating the impression that the criminal investigation conducted by the Xanthi Prosecutor is unfair.
“The response sent to the Committee of Ministers four months after the letters sent by the Xanthi Turkish Union and ABTTF, but only a week before the review of the Committee of Ministers, is an attempt to influence the decision of the Committee of Ministers by Greece, not ours, contrary to what our country Greece claims. The fact that an investigation was launched 7 months after the Xanthi Turkish Union’s protest march and that the President of the Xanthi Turkish Union testified with the allegation of threatening public order and spreading fake news due to his speech at the march, beyond the alleged violation of COVID-19 measures in this investigation, proves that the investigation is not only relevant to the alleged violation of the pandemic measures. Unfortunately, our country does not have a sincere attitude on all issues related to the freedom of association of the Turkish community in Western Thrace and has not displayed a fact-based approach since the beginning in this process”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
Please click here for the reply of Greece:
https://rm.coe.int/0900001680a6b8fe
