ABTTF President: “Our former President still continues to make statements which stipulate that our country fully respects international law as regards the freedom of association. Unfortunately, the policies and practices of our country towards the right of the Turkish community in Western Thrace to exercise its freedom of association are in no way compatible with the standards of EU, of which our country is a member, and the European Convention on Human Rights, to which it is a party, as alleged by our former President’’.
Former Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos referred to the Turkish community in Western Thrace in his speech at a conference organised by the Society of Art Music and Philology called ‘‘O Skoufos’’. In his speech, Pavlopoulos asserted that Greece, as a member of the international community and the European Union (EU), fully complies with the provisions of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne on the status of muftis in Western Thrace and the exercise of the right to freedom of association and that it proves that each passing day.
“Former President Pavlopoulos still continues to make statements which stipulate that our country fully respects international law as regards the freedom of association. Unfortunately, the policies and practices of our country towards the right of the Turkish community in Western Thrace to exercise its freedom of association are in no way compatible with the standards of EU, of which our country is a member, and the European Convention on Human Rights, to which it is a party, as alleged by our former President. Despite all the warnings of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, our country has not executed the European Court of Human Rights judgment with respect to the Xanthi Turkish Union for more than 14 years and has disregarded the principle of the rule of law. Our country, which closes or does not register our associations just because they belong to our community, on the other hand, allows an association founded by Armenians in Komotini, which refers to ethnicity in its name’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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