The Statement of MRG related to Cultural Association of Turkish Women in Rhodope

“The International Minority Rights Group (IMRG)” having the headquarters in London has published a written statement related to the official ban of the “Turkish Union of Xanthi (ITB)” by the Greek Highest Court of Appeals, Arios Pagos, and the permission not given to the foundation of the “Cultural Association of Turkish Women in Rhodope” with the same reasons.

In the concerning statement, it is stated that,

“Basing on the basic rules of the international law, the protection of the minority rights is one of the fundamental principles of Europe. The sample case concerning the Polish state in the European Court of Human Rights has underlined this state clearly.

The additional documents proving the obligations of Europe vis-à-vis the minorities include the Frame Agreement on the Protection of the International Minorities, the European Charter on the Regional and Minority Languages, and furthermore Oslo, Lahey and Lund Propositions including the linguistic rights, rights to education and the active participation of the minorities respectively.

On the international level, the Art. 27 of the International Agreement on the Individual and Political Rights provides the individuals to benefit from their own cultural, religious and linguistic rights individually or together with the other members of the group. According to the general interpretation of the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations related to this article, the protection of these rights aims to insure the continuation of the improvement and sustenance of the cultural, religious and social identities of the concerning minorities. In this way, the structure of the society is going to be richer as a whole. (The Human Rights Committee, General Interpretation 23, art. 27, Section 50, 1994)

Similarly, the Art. 1 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities passed unanimously in the UN General Assembly in 1992 reads follows:
“The states protect the existence and national or ethnic, religious or linguistic identities of the minorities living on their territories, and encourage the emergence of the conditions necessary for the minorities to improve these identities.”

The general common tie between these documents is that they constitute the infringements of the protection obligation and any form of compulsory assimilation of the minorities. Bringing to an end of the existence of the foundations protecting the interests of the minorities may be accepted as a step towards this direction, and for this reason, the International Minority Rights Group express its deep worries due to the ban of the Turkish Union of Xanthi (ITB).”