The Council of Europe warns Greece

In the statement made by the committee, it was stated that it warned the Greek administration once again that the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding the Turkish minority of Western Thrace must be implemented and the cases related to the freedom of association must be decided immediately.

In the statement, at the meeting held in Strasbourg, France, between June 5-7 to monitor the decisions of the ECtHR, the “Bekir Usta cases” related to the Western Thracian Turkish community, the Turkish Xanthi Union (ITB) , the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Rhodope Province. Reopening of the Association and the Meriç Minority Youth Association.

By stating that the Greek authorities did not implement the decisions made in the cases in which Greece was sentenced against the Turkish minority of Western Thrace, it was emphasized that Greece violated article 11 of the Human Rights Convention on freedom of association.

In the statement, it was also indicated that it was decided to re-examine the developments related to the “Bekir Usta et al. Group of Cases” at the Committee meeting to be held in December 2023.

WHAT HAPPENED?

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe urged Greece to implement ECtHR decisions, which had previously been deemed unfair in cases brought against Turkish associations in Western Thrace.

The failure of Greece to implement the verdicts in which the Western Thracian Turkish minority has been convicted in cases brought before the European Court of Human Rights for 15 years has also provoked reactions from minority representatives.

Greece did not allow and closed some associations established by the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, claiming that they were founded to uphold the view that Turks are an ethnic minority.

The ECtHR ruled that Greece violated Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights on freedom of assembly and association. (AA)