ABTTF President: ‘‘The statements made by Marinakis perfectly reflects the policy of our country’s rulers, which we have been familiar with for years, of hiding the facts about the state of the rule of law and ignoring the problems. As the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we know very well this policy and attitude. Our country has persistently failed to execute the three judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding our community’s associations for over 17 years, despite all the warnings from the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, disregarding the principle of the rule of law’’.
Greek Government Spokesperson and Deputy Prime Minister Pavlos Marinakis claimed in a speech to the Greek Parliament that Greece was on the rise in terms of its economy, foreign policy and all institutional matters, and that the government’s efforts to strengthen the rule of law were bearing fruit.
Marinakis indicated that the European Commission’s latest annual report on the rule of law noted that Greece had made progress on press freedom and journalist safety, adding that the government would continue its efforts to strengthen the rule of law and media freedom.
‘‘Government Spokesperson and Deputy Prime Minister Marinakis is deliberately distorting the facts once again by ignoring the systematic violation of the rule of law in our country Greece, as clearly stipulated in the latest reports by the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as the recent legal scandals. The statements made by Marinakis perfectly reflects the policy of our country’s rulers, which we have been familiar with for years, of hiding the facts about the state of the rule of law and ignoring the problems. As the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we are very familiar with this policy and attitude. Our country has persistently failed to execute three judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding our community’s associations for over 17 years, despite all the warnings of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, disregarding the principle of the rule of law. We demand that our country’s rulers, including Marinakis, stop distorting the facts as if mocking citizens and, in line with their responsibilities, make sincere and honest efforts to urgently resolve the problems related to democracy and the rule of law in our country”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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