ABTTF President: “However, the EU does not demonstrate the same sensitivity and determination when it comes to certain current Member States—notably our country, Greece—where serious issues regarding minority rights persist. The denial of the Turkish identity of our country’s Turkish Minority in Western Thrace, the dissolution of our associations whose names bear the word ‘‘Turkish’’ or the rejection of their applications for registration, and the fact that the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights against our country regarding these associations have still not been executed despite many years, raise questions about the consistency between the EU’s rhetoric on respect for minority rights and the rule of law and its actual practices’’.
The 2026 Enlargement Package, containing the European Commission’s latest assessments of candidate countries, was presented on Wednesday, 4 November to the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs by European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.
The progress report on Albania notes that respect must be shown for the rights of the Greek minority in the country and for the rule of law, whilst also highlighting significant delays in compensation payments relating to property rights.
The European Commission noted that Greece had made its support for Albania’s EU membership conditional upon respect for the rights of the Greek minority and the rule of law in the country, noting that, although the legal framework protecting minorities in Albania is generally in line with European standards, members of the Greek minority continue to face discrimination, encounter difficulties in freely defining their identity, and serious shortcomings regarding property rights persist.
“The emphasis placed on the rights of the Greek minority in Albania in the progress report once again brings to the fore the EU’s double standards regarding minority rights. However, the EU does not demonstrate the same sensitivity and determination when it comes to certain current Member States—notably our country, Greece—where serious problems regarding minority rights persist. The denial of the Turkish identity of our country’s Turkish Minority in Western Thrace, the dissolution of our associations whose names bear the word ‘‘Turkish’’ or the rejection of their applications for registration, and the fact that the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights against our country regarding these associations have still not been executed despite many years, raise questions about the consistency between the EU’s rhetoric and its practices regarding minority rights and respect for the rule of law. EU membership cannot be viewed as a privilege that exempts Member States, including our country, from their obligations in this regard. Therefore, if European values are universal, they must apply not only to candidate countries but also to Member States, including our country. The principle must be one of equal law and the same standards for human and minority rights for everyone, not double standards’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.anadoluimages.com
