ABTTF President: “While the report fails to address minority rights, the systematic rights violations and discrimination faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace have unfortunately also been overlooked. In the written opinion regarding the report that we, as ABTTF, will prepare and present to GNCHR, we will detail the de facto erosion of our community’s educational and religious autonomy through various laws and government practices, the country’s persistent failure for over 18 years to execute the ECtHR judgments concerning our associations, and the hate speech targeting our community”.
The Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR) has published its annual report containing its assessments of the human rights situation in Greece in 2025.
GNCHR’s 2025 annual report emphasises that prison conditions, migration and asylum policies, pushbacks, hate speech, the rule of law, and the strengthening of independent institutions continue to be priority human rights issues for Greece.
GNCHR noted that in 2025, racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate-based discrimination continued to pose a serious threat to democratic society, highlighting that hate speech has become more visible in political discourse, public debates, and on social media, and that negative rhetoric directed specifically at refugees and migrants carries the risk of normalising discrimination and inciting hate crimes. GNCHR recommends the effective investigation of hate crimes, the protection of victims, increased education and awareness efforts, and that public institutions take on a more active role in combating discrimination.
Emphasising that human rights defenders and civil society organisations are indispensable elements of a democratic state governed by the rule of law, GNCHR indicated that these organisations monitor public policies, document violations, provide support to victims, and submit information to international human rights mechanisms.
Stressing that the ability of independent institutions to operate free from political pressure is a fundamental safeguard for a democratic system, GNCHR notes that Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) targeting journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society representatives have a chilling effect on freedom of expression, and that the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and European standards must be fully implemented.
“We consider the findings in GNCHR’s 2025 annual report—an independent advisory body established by law in 1998—regarding the problems in the areas of human rights and the rule of law in our country, Greece, to be significant. However, while the report fails to address minority rights, the systematic rights violations and discrimination faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace have unfortunately also been overlooked. In the written opinion regarding the report that we, as ABTTF, will prepare and present to GNCHR, we will detail the de facto erosion of our community’s educational and religious autonomy through various laws and government practices, the country’s persistent failure for over 18 years to execute the ECtHR judgments concerning our associations, and the hate speech targeting our community’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
