The problems on freedom of association are on OSCE’s agenda!

ABTTF and BTAYTD declared that Greece should comply with ECtHR rulings during OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension meeting

Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) participated to the Supplementary Human Dimension meeting organised by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) unit of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the subject of “Peaceful Assembly and Association with Emphasis on Freedom of Association” on 16-17 April 2015. Turkish Minority of Western Thrace was represented during the meeting by Funda Reşit ve Bülent Apturahim from ABTTF’s international lobbying group, Mehmet Memet who is secretary general and responsible of Human Rights Unit of Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (BTAYTD) and Pervin Hayrullah who is director general of Western Thrace Minority Education and Culture Company (BAKEŞ) as well as board member of BTAYTD. They all tried to voice the concerns over freedom of association in Western Thrace.

Pervin Hayrullah delivered her speech during the first day of the meeting that took place in Austria’s capital city of Wien. Hayrullah expressed that although peaceful assembly rights and freedom of association are guaranteed by the 11th and 12th provisions of the Greek Constitution, Greek authorities have steadily been restricting such rights of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace by closing down the associations that bear the name “Turk” as well as prohibiting the establishment of new ones.

During the second day of the meeting where the issues of non-discrimination, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association were discussed, the President of the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights Yuri Dzhibladze said that no one was superior to others underlining that Turkish Minority of Western Thrace have been totally ignored like many other minorities. Speaking at the same session, Greek Helsinki Monitor Spokesperson Panayote Dimitras also stated that Greece didn’t recognise the ethnic identity of Turkish Minority of Western Thrace. Funda Reşit from ABTTF’s international lobbying group took the floor in this session and stated that ECtHR had ruled against Greece by 3 different decisions taken in 2007 and 2008 under the name of Bekir Usta. Insisting on the fact that The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has also been closely following the issue, Reşit said that Greece continued to ignore ECtHR rulings which resulted in the decision to try Greece again. Besides, Pervin Hayrullah reminded that every Greek citizen was equal before the Greek constitution and had right to set up non-profit organisations/associations. Therefore, she asked the Greek government to lift all restrictions on freedom of associations for Turkish Minority of Western Thrace. In its response to these questions, Greek representatives stated that there were around 50 associations belonging to minorities and other groups and that they were pursuing their works actively and freely. They insisted that Greece adopted no discrimination policy and fulfilled the requirements of all international agreements and institutions that it is part of.

The subject in the afternoon session was the participation of non-profit associations in decision-making mechanisms, Funda Reşit stated that Greece only recognised Muslim Minority in the Thrace and didn’t allow the establishment of associations whose names bare the word ‘Turk’. Therefore, it is impossible for minority associations to take part in decision-making mechanisms at local, regional and national level. Reşit demanded from Greek authorities that they should include our minority in the decision-making processes on an equal footing through establishing a dialogue mechanism at the outset.