ABTTF President: ''The European Commission’s recently published 2025 Rule of Law Report also notes that issues related to the rule of law persist in our country and refers to the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases in the context of the violations of our community’s freedom of association''.
Prof. Xenophon Contiades, a constitutional law professor at Panteion University, criticised the Greek government’s practices that undermine the independence of the judiciary in an article published on the news portal Dnews.gr.
In his article, Contiades noted that the government is not taking into consideration the secret voting and the recommendations of the judges which have been brought in the new law regarding the appointment of the presidents of the top courts. He further explained that the government does not want judges who may oppose its policies and that it favours individuals close to it instead of qualified judges.
Moreover, Contiades indicated that this situation seriously undermines not only the rule of law but also public trust in the judiciary and described it as a major threat to democracy.
“The article written by Constitutional law expert Contiades once again exposes the systematic violation of the rule of law by the government in our country in recent years. The European Commission’s recently published 2025 Rule of Law Report also notes that issues related to the rule of law persist in our country and refers to the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases in the context of the violations of our community’s freedom of association. As stipulated in the Commission’s report, our country has persistently failed to execute the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments regarding our associations in the aforementioned group of cases for over 17 years, disregarding the European Convention on Human Rights, to which it is a party. This situation, which is directly linked to human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, is entirely inappropriate for a country that claims to be the “cradle of democracy’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
