ABTTF President: “As the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace, we are both direct witnesses to and victims of the problems in the functioning of our country’s judicial system and the systematic violation of the rule of law. For 18 years, our country has persistently failed to executed the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments concerning the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases — a case it has completely politicised over the years—thereby disregarding the rule of law.”
According to the EU 2026 Justice Scoreboard published by the European Commission on 4 June 2026, Greece ranks among the lowest of the EU Member States in terms of the length of court proceedings and public confidence in the judiciary.
The scoreboard, which serves as one of the key data sources for the European Commission’s annual Rule of Law Report and provides an overview of indicators relating to the efficiency, quality and independence of judicial systems in EU Member States, also examines how the public perceives the independence of courts and judges.
According to the report, 57% of Greek citizens believe that courts and judges in the country are not independent, whilst almost half also believe that the government and politicians interfere with the independence of the judiciary.
“The EU 2026 Justice Scoreboard clearly demonstrates that the judiciary in our country, Greece, is not independent and highlights problems in the general functioning of the judicial system. As indicated in the scoreboard, the duration of legal proceedings in our country is excessively long. The majority of the public—six out of ten people—say that the judiciary is not independent. The legal scandals and government interference in the judiciary experienced in our country in recent years have, naturally, dealt a blow to public confidence in the judiciary. As the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace, we are both direct witnesses to and victims of the problems in the functioning of our country’s judicial system and the systematic violation of the rule of law. For 18 years, our country has persistently failed to executed the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments concerning the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases — a case it has completely politicised over the years—thereby disregarding the rule of law. We urge our country to take these objective figures—which will also feature in the European Commission’s 2026 Rule of Law Report—seriously into account, and, above all, to execute the ECtHR judgments in the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases concerning our associations without delay’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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