ABTTF Calls on EEDD: “Show the same sensitivity toward the Turks of Western Thrace”

The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) stated that it found the recent statement by the Hellenic Association of Judges and Prosecutors (EEDD) on the Tempi train disaster to be significant but urged the organization to show the same sensitivity regarding Greece’s continued non-implementation of European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgments concerning associations of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.

ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu said:

“We consider the EEDD’s statement on safeguarding judicial independence and the rule of law in the context of the Tempi train tragedy to be important. However, we would have hoped that, as an independent body from the government, the EEDD would demonstrate the same sensitivity and concern over Greece’s persistent failure—spanning more than 17 years—to implement ECHR rulings directly linked to the rule of law and the associations of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.”

Habip Oğlu underlined that the Court of Cassation (Arios Pagos)’s rejection of the legal re-registration of the Turkish Union of Xanthi, as well as the registration applications of the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of Rodopi and the Evros Minority Youth Association, stands in clear violation of the principle of the rule of law.

He added:

“The Greek state’s politicization of the Bekir Usta and Others group of cases and its refusal to implement the related ECHR judgments is one of the most striking examples of the systematic violation of the rule of law in our country. This issue has also been explicitly noted in the European Commission’s reports.”

In its statement on the Tempi train tragedy, the EEDD stressed that justice must be achieved not through obsession but through persistence, calling on citizens to maintain their interest in the judiciary and to critically assess any form of interference. The association also highlighted that political opportunism undermines not only individuals but also the very institutions of democracy.