The report on the honouring of membership obligations to the Council of Europe by Greece, and the draft resolution relating to the report, were discussed and adopted by the PACE Plenary Session.
President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) Halit Habip Oğlu paid a working visit to Strasbourg on 29–30 September 2026, in parallel with the PACE Autumn Session.
During the working visit, in which he was accompanied by ABTTF International Relations Director Melek Kırmacı, Habip Oğlu raised the current issues facing the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace and the human rights violations they are subjected to in his meetings with PACE members and Council of Europe officials.
On 29 September 2026, the report on the honouring of membership obligations to the Council of Europe by Greece, drafted by PACE members Laura Castel (Spain, Group of the Unified European Left) and Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (Finland, Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group), was debated in the PACE Plenary Session. A draft resolution on the report, which also made direct reference to the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace, was adopted by a majority vote.
The resolution, which assesses Greece’s progress in aligning with the Council of Europe’s standards on democracy, human rights and the rule of law, emphasises the need for a combination of sustained efforts and constructive political dialogue to safeguard democracy and further consolidate the rule of law in the country.
The resolution draws attention to significant and ongoing challenges regarding the functioning of democratic institutions in Greece, listing the following as matters of concern: corruption amongst high-ranking public officials; government interference in sensitive judicial investigations; legislation that jeopardises the activities of civil society organisations in the field of migration and asylum; violence against migrants by internal security forces; and the use of Predator spyware against politicians and journalists.
Paragraph 10 of the resolution notes that, as Greece has not ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRM) or the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), the protection of national minorities is governed solely by the Council of Europe’s general rules and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding the protection of national minorities. Reference is made to the protection of the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace’s freedom of association, and it is noted that PACE regrets that the Greek authorities do not currently intend to ratify the two aforementioned conventions.
“As ABTTF, through our lobbying efforts with the PACE Monitoring Committee and our discussions with the rapporteurs, we ensured that the term ‘‘Western Thrace Turks’’ was included in the report. Paragraph 40 of the report clearly stipulates that in Greece, applications for the registration of associations bearing names containing the word ‘‘Turkish’’ – which belong to the Western Thrace Turks – are currently being rejected, or existing associations are being dissolved. In this respect, the adoption of the report by PACE is positive for the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
