ABTTF President: “As the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we have been experiencing first-hand the consequences of the weakening of democratic institutions and the decline in the rule of law in our country for years. Our country has failed to execute the European Court of Human Rights’ judgments regarding our associations in the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases for over 17 years. By deliberately politicising these judgments and ignoring all warnings from the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on this matter, our country continues to disregard international law’’.
Greek Ombudsman Andreas Pottakis, in an interview with the Tsatsos Foundation and syntagmawatch.gr, indicated that independent institutions in Greece are being openly weakened by the political authorities, adding that the government is exerting economic pressure on these institutions by failing to provide them with the necessary resources and is interfering in their work either indirectly or directly.
Pointing out that the balance and control mechanisms between state institutions have been eroded, Pottakis noted that the Ombudsman is accountable to Parliament, but that even Parliament has refused to hear the Ombudsman’s annual reports for three years, indicating a serious decline in the rule of law.
Pottakis emphasised that citizens’ trust in the state and justice is rapidly declining, stating that it has now become imperative to protect official institutions from political pressure and strengthen their independence.
‘‘In his interview, Ombudsman Pottakis clearly revealed the collapse of citizens’ trust in the judiciary and political power in our country Greece, and the systematic violation of the rule of law. Indeed, as Pottakis also emphasised, the democratic parliamentary system in our country is no longer functioning. Independent public opinion polls conducted by the European Commission have also revealed that the overwhelming majority of the population in our country does not believe that the fundamental values of the EU, such as fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law, are well protected. Likewise, the European Commission’s annual reports have emphasised that the rule of law is under serious threat in our country. As the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we have been experiencing the consequences of the weakening of democratic institutions and the decline in the rule of law in our country for years. Our country has not executed the European Court of Human Rights’ judgments regarding our associations in the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases for over 17 years. Our country, which deliberately politicises these judgments and ignores all warnings from the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on this matter continues to disregard international law’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
