OSCE Annual Report on Hate Crimes covers attacks to Western Thrace Turkish Minority

The hate motivated attacks perpetuated towards the Western Thrace Turkish Minority were also covered by the 2012 Annual Report on Hate Crimes of the Organisation of Security (OSCE) and Cooperation in Europe. Published by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in November 2013, the report provides figures of hate crimes reported by the Federation of Western Thrace Turkish Minority (ABTTF) and Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (BTAYTD) to the OSCE.

Having indicated the contributions of 31 civil society organisations from 18 countries on hate moti-vated and xenophobic crimes and incidents, ODIHR noted that among from the contributing states 16 states, including Greece, have provided input to the report for 2012 and Greece reported addi-tionally the particular situations as well.

In reference to input from National Liaison Office on Fight Against Hate Crime in Greece (NPC), ODIHR reported demolition of business centre run by two African men in Greece, ODIHR noted that Human Rights Watch (HRW) and UN Refugees Agency (UNHCR) are in collaboration with The Racist Violence Recording Network for reporting the hate crimes and incidents committed to-wards immigrants and refugees in Greece.

ABTTF and BTAYTD reported the hate crimes in 2012 to OSCE

Having stated no official report were submitted by Greece regarding the crimes committed with Is-lam phobic motivations, ODIHR noted that ABTTF and BTAYTD had submitted reports on graffiti including xenophobic insult painted to the wall of Xanthi Turkish Union. The graffiti, which was painted on 23 March 2013 on Xanthi Turkish Union (ITB) main entry door and walls, included “ΕΞΩ ΟΙ ΤΟΥΡΚΟΙ (Turks Out)”. ODIHR noted ABTTF and BTAYTD reports and placed the vandalisation of the graves into the hate crime report. The very same day when the xenophobic graf-fiti was painted on the wall of ITB, “The best Turk is the dead Turk” has been written on the wall of a Bektashi tomb in Xanthi. Approximately a month before these incidents, in February 2012, the cemetery situated in Komotini had been segregated and almost 20 gravestones were broken.

The report also refers to inputs provided by ABTTF with indications on two physical attacks and three incidents which resulted in damage to properties. In August 2012, the headquarters of the Friendship, Equality, Peace (DEB) Party had been vandalised. Again in August 2012, a group of Golden Dawn supporters walked past the Komotini Turkish Youth Union by chanting racist slo-gans and threw bottles into the garden of the Union. In September 2012, Cemali Mulazim, a member of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority, had been heavily beaten by a group of Golden Dawn supporters. ABTTF, in its written statement submitted to ODIHR in April 2013, reported the escorted drives organised by the Golden Dawn supporters past the villages populated by Western Thrace Turkish Minority and conveyed the tension environment created through racist slogans. In addition, ABTTF noted the incident that Cüneyt Serdar, a member of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority, had been blatantly beaten by Golden Dawn supporters in March 2013


You can access the full report through following link: http://tandis.odihr.pl/hcr2012/