ABTTF attended Fundamental Rights Platform annual meeting
The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe ABTTF) attended the Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP) 2022 annual meeting organized by the European Union (EU) Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) on Thursday, November 10.
Melek Kırmacı Arık, Director of International Relations, represented ABTTF at the online meeting on the rule of law in the EU.
The meeting, which took place on the axis of the 2022 Annual Report on the Rule of Law published by the EU Commission and attended by approximately 110 people, started with the opening speech of FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty.
Speaking in the first part of the meeting titled "Status of the rule of law in the EU", EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders noted that the annual report on the rule of law prepared by the EU Commission includes specific sections and recommendations for the 27 EU member states.
Reynders stated that the first tool in the implementation of the aforementioned recommendations is dialogue with EU member states, but if the recommendations are not fulfilled, other tools, including deductions from EU funds, can be applied.
On behalf of ABTTF Melek Kırmacı Arık, who took the floor in the session on the implementation of the decisions of the European courts from the simultaneous workshops held in the second part of the meeting titled "Civil society and the rule of law - practical tools", gave information about the "Bekir Usta and Others Case Group" regarding the associations of the Western Thrace Turkish society.
ABTTF representative noted that Greece has not implemented the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for more than 14 years regarding the case group in question, which includes the Xanthi Turkish Union (ITB), the Rhodope Province Turkish Women's Cultural Association and the Meriç (Evros) Minority Youth Association.
Stating that the applicant associations and non-governmental organizations use the tools at their disposal regarding what non-governmental organizations can do.
Arık noted that the non-implementation of the ECtHR decisions is not only related to the violated right but there are also political reasons behind it.
ABTTF representative stated that the main reason behind the non-implementation of the ECtHR judgments in the "Bekir Usta and Others Case Group" in Greece was the unwillingness to recognize the Turkish identity of the Western Thrace Turkish community. For this reason, Greece did not persistently implement the ECtHR judgments in this politicized case group.
