Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe examines the Bekir Usta group of cases
At its meeting in Strasbourg on 5-7 December 2023, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe examined the Bekir Usta and Others Group of Cases concerning the violation by Greece of the freedom of association of the Turkish Union of Xanthi, the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Rodopi and the Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
In the decision announced on Friday 8 December, the Committee of Ministers stated that the ECtHR judgments are still not being implemented, despite the 15 years that have passed since the ECtHR judgments and the legislative amendment made in 2017. The Committee of Ministers stated that the associations in the Bekir Usta case group have exhausted domestic law and that the Greek authorities must now take measures to fulfil the judgments. In the decision, the Committee stated that it found it positive that Greece expressed its intention to establish a Committee of Experts to advise the Greek authorities on the steps to be taken in the Bekir Usta group of cases as a result of the meeting between the secretariat of the Committee and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs on 8 November 2023.
The Committee of Ministers, underlining Greece's obligation under Article 46(1) of the Convention for respondent States to give full and effective effect to all judgments of the ECtHR, requested the Greek authorities to keep the Committee informed of the steps taken in the run-up to the review in June 2024.
Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) President Halit Habip Oğlu said: "7 December 1983 is the date when the signboard of Xanthi Turkish Union was taken down... 40 years after the signboard of our first Turkish association in Western Thrace was taken down, the official legal personality of our Xanthi Turkish Union has still not been restored. After 22 years of domestic legal struggle, the Turkish Union of Xanthi and two other associations, which were not allowed to be established, have been waiting for the implementation of the European Court judgements for 15 years. That's easy, 15 years! After 15 years, Greece is talking about its intention to establish a Committee of Experts to investigate the implementation of the judgements in this group of cases and to prepare recommendations to the Greek authorities. Do not be misunderstood, there is no decision taken on this issue yet, there is an intention! Our country has been stalling us, the Committee of Ministers, on this issue for so long that it is hard to believe that this is a real step. We will of course continue to follow the process until the review in June 2024, we will not allow this to turn into another process to stall the Committee. We will continue to inform the Committee of Ministers as our associations and civil society organisations."
