PACE adopted Hunault´s report

On 27 January 2010, the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) discussed within the framework of the I. Ordinary General Session the report on “Freedom of religion and other human rights for non-Muslim minorities in Turkey and for the Muslim minority in Thrace (Eastern Greece)”, prepared by Michel Hunault, member of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. On Wednesday January 27, the views of the proposed amendments were discussed along with the report and the draft resolution during the afternoon session, and accepted after the voting.

With regard to the draft resolution and the accompanying report, fourteen recommendations for changes and one oral recommendation for sub-changes were presented by members of the PACE. Although the three changes to the proposal, submitted by Göran Lindblad (EPP / CD), Boriss Cilevics (SOC), Gültekin Hajibayli (EPP / CD), Aydin Abbasov (SOC), Aydın Mirzazada (EDG), Michael Hancock (ALDE), Andreas Gross (SOC) on 26 January 2010, were recognized by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, they still were denied at the voting of the General Assembly.

The summary of changes, presented with regard to the text of the draft resolution, proposed to make changes in three points. The first proposal related to the issue of political participation of the Western-Thrace Turkish Minority, requested to add a new paragraph to the text of the draft decision, which withdraws the 3% electoral threshold for an independent candidate to be elected and reconsiders the redistribution of electoral districts into enlarged electoral districts. In addition, the second change requested to add a new paragraph to the text of the draft decision, regarding former Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Law. The amendment proposed to take steps to ensure the immediate rectification of the unfortunate consequences arising from deprivation of Greek citizenship on the basis of former Article 19 of the Citizenship Code for all persons concerned, although they no longer live in Greece, even they have acquired citizenship of another country. Moreover the demanded changes note that Greece, in particular, should genuinely facilitate these persons’ recovery of their citizenship by removing any obstacle, including the need for them to go through the naturalisation procedure. The third and final change, again related to the issue of former Article 19, requested that in the draft decision, cases of people affected by the loss of their Greek citizenship due to the former regulation, should instead of been “resolve[d] as soon as possible” be replaced by the words of been “resolve[d] immediately”.

With regard to the issue, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe, (ABTTF), Halit Habipoğlu, made a statement as follows: “It is a pity for ABTTF, that all three amendments, which were proposed by seven parliamentary members of the PACE, were, despite ABTTF’s intensive lobby work, first denied by the Commission of Legal Affairs and Human Rights, and later by the General Assembly. However, it presented an important development for us, that due to ABTTF´s initiatives, fourteen amendments along with one oral sub-change regarding the report and the accompanying draft resolution, were moved to the agenda. In addition, we were pleased that all persons which accepted the proposals during the conducted voting, were outside of the members of the Turkish Delegation to PACE. This proves that, due to the work of ABTTF, the Western-Thrace Turkish Minority has a lobby on PACE level. In addition, it presented a demonstrative point, that the demand, stating that the expression of the minority, comprising Turks, Pomaks, and Roma, has a tripartite structure and therefore the Special Teacher Training Academy of Thessaloniki should provide education in Pomak and Roma language, besides in Turkish, was denied by the Committee and the General Assembly. It is a positive development that the report, written by Michel Hunault and stating the problems of the Turkish Minority of Western-Thrace, was adopted by the General Assembly with 102 yes votes, despite the lack of information. Moreover, it is important that the general meaning of the report exceeds the Peace Treaty of Lausanne between Turkey and Greece, and recommends the two countries to increase their efforts to improve the situation of minority citizens.

What does the resolution adopted by the PACE General Assembly contain?

In the 1704(2010) resolution, which was adopted by the General Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly expresses that minorities in Greece and Turkey are heavily influenced by history and that in 20th century the treatment of minorities was determined to be largely dependant on the course of bilateral relations. Furthermore, in the resolution, it is emphasized that the existence of “national”, “religious” and “linguistic” minorities in a country does not divide the society, but rather presents an enrichment for them. Thus, it should be considered as an essential element.

The resolution expresses that Greece and Turkey should note that they are primarily responsible for the citizens living within the borders of their home country, instead of focusing their responsibility on religious minorities living in the neighbouring country. It is noted, that the principle of “reciprocity”, basing on Article 45 of the Lausanne Peace Treaty, on which Greece and Turkey refer to, is interpreted in a negative sense. Furthermore, the resolution emphasizes that the implementation of the application on the base of the principle of reciprocity, which is believed to guarantee rights of minorities despite rejection, may damage each country’s national cohesion in 21st century.

Regardless of the treatment towards its citizens in the neighbouring country, the resolution demands from Greece and Turkey to not discriminate its own citizens. Moreover, the decision demands Greece and Turkey to fully provide the rights of national minorities as developed by the European Court of Human Rights case law, regardless of the fact that they have ratified and confirmed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, or did not. Nevertheless, it is added that with the approval of the mentioned Framework Agreement and the European Convention for Regional and Minority Languages, both countries would indicate their understanding and acceptance of specific cultural characteristics.

Besides the declaration, that the right to ethnic self-identification should effectively implemented for all minority groups in democratic and pluralistic countries, be it national, religious or linguistic, both countries are also requested to take every step possible to change the perception that minorities presented as foreigners.

What does the resolution mean for the Turkish Minority of Western-Thrace?

In the resolution’s special section about Greece, recommendations are given primarily to the issue of education. While the decision demands Greek authorities to take necessary steps in order to provide high quality education at minority schools, it also asks to take the the probability of founding new high-minority middle schools into consideration. Furthermore it is demanded that the Special Pedagogical Academy of Thessaloniki should provide high quality education in both, Turkish and Greek languages, to ensure that people, who are going to work at minority schools, will get an appropriate education. In the field of education, the decision calls with regard to the “Muslim Children Education” program for financial and permanent support. With regard to the issue of foundations, the resolution requests the fully implementation of Law Nr 3627/2008 to provide concise regulations regarding the question of the legal status of foundations belonging to the Muslim minority. In addition, the text of decision states with regard to the issue of Mufti that the Muslim minority should be allowed to chose their religious leaders in a free form (without jurisdiction) due to procedures of election or appointment. Thus, the application of the Sharia Law would be given an end, and a system compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights would be created.

Regarding the issue of former Article 19, it is stated that cases, related to persons who lost their citizenship due to the application of former Article 19, including those, who became stateless, but are not living in Greece any more, should be resolved as soon as possible. Moreover, the decision calls for full implementation of the European Court of Human Rights decisions and so for approval of foundations of associations containing the word “Turkish” in its name. In addition, the decision claims to immediately implement the law, which was prepared as well for strengthening the infrastructure and the economy of Thrace, as for the quota system of public services.

The full text of the resolution of 1704 (2010) adopted by the PACE on 27 January 2010 is available at:
http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta10/ERES1704.htm