ABTTF President: “We have been facing, knowing and seeing this indifferent attitude of the rulers of our country in the issues of our community for years. Our country, which has not executed the three judgments of the European Court of Human Rights with respect to the associations of our community for the past 17 years despite all the warnings of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, continues to disregard the rule of law and international law. With this latest report of the EP, the serious issues in the field of democracy, law and the rule of law in our country have once again become evident’’.
Greece has been included in the European Parliament’s (EP) Committee on Foreign Affairs’ annual report on the state of human rights and democracy in non-EU countries in 2024.
SYRIZA MEP Kostas Arvanitis underlined that it is a very negative development that Greece is included in the list of human rights violations in the EP’s report together with third world countries due to the failure to investigate the murder of journalist Giorgos Karaivaz, who was murdered on 9 April 2021, and noted that this situation is an indicator of the failure of the current government on human rights.
The EP Committee on Foreign Affairs report titled ‘‘Human rights and democracy in the world and the European Union’s policy on the matter - Annual Report 2024’’ will be put to vote at the EP Plenary Session in Strasbourg on 11 March 2025.
“The EP’s inclusion of our country in its annual report analysing violations of human rights, rule of law and democracy in non-EU countries is a stern warning to the government. This latest report of the EP is humiliating for the democracy of our country, whose reputation in the international arena has declined in recent years due to the government’s policies. Just last week, thousands of people took to the streets across the country and protested against the government on the second anniversary of the Tempi train accident in which 57 people lost their lives. As in the case of the murder of journalist Karaivaz, the government did not take any steps to reveal the truth about the Tempi train accident, on the contrary, it chose to return to its own agenda as if to cover up the truth. This is always the behaviour of the rulers of our country! For years we have been facing, knowing and seeing this indifferent attitude of the rulers of our country in the issues of our community. Our country, which has not executed the three judgments of the European Court of Human Rights with respect to the associations of our community for the past 17 years despite all the warnings of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, continues to disregard the rule of law and international law. With this latest report of the EP, the serious issues in the field of democracy, law and the rule of law in our country have once again become evident’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.anadoluimages.com
