ABTTF President: “If our country fails to take concrete steps by December 2026 to execute the final judgments of the ECtHR concerning our associations, we demand that the Committee of Ministers initiate the infringement procedure against our country under Article 46, paragraph 4 of the Convention for disregarding its obligations under the Convention”.
At its meeting held in Strasbourg, France, on 9–11 June 2026, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe examined the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases concerning Greece’s violation of the freedom of association of the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace.
In its decision of 11 June 2026, the Committee of Ministers, once again reiterating the fundamental importance of freedom of association in a democratic state, criticised the fact that more than 18 years had passed since the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments concerning the Xanthi Turkish Union, which was dissolved by national courts, and the unregistered Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Rodopi and Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association., and that despite the applicant associations having exhausted all possibilities available to them within the domestic legal system, they had still not been granted full restoration of their previous status (restitutio in integrum).
The Committee of Ministers, recalling that the ECtHR had concluded in the Sagir and Others judgment concerning the unregistered Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Xanthi that the reopening of the impugned proceedings would be the most appropriate means of putting an end to the ongoing violation, requested the Greek authorities to provide information on this matter.
The Committee of Ministers criticised the Greek authorities for not providing a clear timeframe for completing the legislative work on amendments to the Civil Code, emphasising that these amendments are essential for making progress on this long-standing group of judgments, and strongly urged the Greek authorities to finalise and adopt these amendments without further delay.
The Committee of Ministers requested the preparation of a memorandum setting out the purpose of the amendments to be made to the law, which would assist national courts in interpreting provisions ensuring the full restoration of the previous situation for the applicant associations and the prevention of similar violations in the future, in accordance with the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.
The Committee of Ministers, decided to resume examination of the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases at its meeting in December 2026 and, should no concrete progress be made by that date, to consider taking further steps at that meeting regarding the obligations of the Greek authorities under Article 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) arising from the decisions in this group of cases.
“The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has strongly criticised Greece for continually stalling in its execution of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments in the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases, calling on the country to take concrete steps in this regard and to finalise the legislative work on the amendments to the Civil Code that it has promised to make. If our country fails to take concrete steps by December 2026 to execute the final judgments of the ECtHR concerning our associations, we demand that the Committee of Ministers initiate the infringement procedure against our country under Article 46, paragraph 4 of the Convention for disregarding its obligations under the Convention”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
Please click below to access the decision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding the Bekir-Ousta and Others group of cases:
https://rm.coe.int/09125948802c1832n.
