Western Thrace Turkish delegation attended the OSCE meeting in Vienna
At the OSCE meeting, the Western Thrace Turkish delegation said that the freedom of association of the Western Thrace Turkish community has been violated and that the ECHR decisions have not been implemented for 14 years.
The Western Thrace Turkish delegation, consisting of ABTTF and BTAYTD representatives brought to the agenda that the freedom of association of the Western Thrace Turkish society has been violated and the ECtHR decisions have not been implemented for 14 years.
The Western Thrace Turkish delegation, consisting of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) and the Western Thrace Minority Graduates Association (BTAYTD), attended the OSCE meeting held in Vienna on 16-17 May 2022.
ABTTF International Relations Director Melek Kırmacı and BTAYTD Human Rights Expert Kerem Abdurahimoğlu attended the OSCE Additional Human Dimension Meeting titled “The Functioning of Democratic Institutions in Times of Crisis: Additional Human Dimension Meeting II”.
The role of national and local institutions as guardians of democracy in times of crisis was discussed at the meeting, which was held in cooperation with the OSCE Polish Presidency and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
The meeting also discussed the importance of freedom of association and freedom of the media in the OSCE field.
In the session where the importance of freedom of association in the OSCE region was discussed, ABTTF explained how the freedom of association of Western Thrace Turkish society was violated by Greece.
ABTTF stated that in three cases known as Bekir Usta case group, Greece has not implemented the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for 14 years. The ABTTF representative said that in June 2022, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will examine the Bekir Usta case group. ABTTF also reminded that the violation procedure against Greece should be initiated since no steps were taken to implement the ECtHR judgments.
XANTHİ TURKİSH UNİON
In the same session, BTAYTD representative explained how the domestic law was exhausted after the ECtHR decision of the Xanthi Turkish Union, which is also in the Bekir Usta case group. In the application made by the Xahthi Turkish Union (ITB) before the national courts, he said that the domestic law was once again exhausted, with the Supreme Court's decision to reject it on 29 June 2021.
BTAYTD representative said that Xanthi Turkish Union following the rejection decision of the Supreme Court in order to shout out injustices organized a protest march.
Seven months after the protest demonstration, Xanthi Turkish Union President Ozan Ahmeoğlu said that an investigation was launched against him and prominent figures of the Western Thrace Turkish community.
FREEDOM of MEDİA
Media is prejudiced against Western Thrace Turkish society.
In the session on media freedom, ABTTF stated that Greece's official policy of not recognizing the ethnic Turkish identity of the Western Thrace Turkish community and that there is only a religious minority in the country had an impact on the media as well.
Stating that there is a prejudiced approach to the Western Thrace Turkish society in the media, ABTTF underlined that racist and hate-based discourse against Western Thrace Turkish society in the online and offline media has increased fear and insecurity throughout the country.
Stating that this situation may trigger hate attacks, ABTTF asked the country authorities to take responsibility for reporting and punishing hate speech and hate-based attacks.
RIGHT of REPLY
Using its right of reply at the closing session, Greece repeated the official thesis that there was a Muslim minority in Thrace as a religious minority according to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. He claimed that the minority enjoyed all positive rights without any discrimination.
