Western Thrace Turks criticized Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ remarks on protecting the rights of the Greek minority in Albania. The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe argued that Mitsotakis’ assessment during the 90th Thessaloniki International Fair contradicted Greece’s policies toward the Western Thrace Turkish community.
Mitsotakis said that protecting the rights of the Greek minority in Albania was not limited to relations between the two countries and was also linked to European law and European Union obligations.
The federation’s criticisms
The federation argued that these remarks demonstrated Greece’s application of double standards on minority rights. It said Greece had violated the rights and freedoms of the Western Thrace Turkish community despite having been a member of the European Union since 1981.
The federation also said that the Turkish identity of Western Thrace Turks was not recognized and that associations with the word “Turkish” in their names were not allowed to operate. It argued that European Court of Human Rights judgments concerning Greece and the freedom of association had not been implemented for a long time.
Closed associations and court judgments
The Xanthi Turkish Union was founded in 1927, the Komotini Turkish Youth Union in 1928, and the Western Thrace Turkish Teachers’ Union in 1936. The federation said these associations were closed in the 1980s because their names included the word “Turkish.”
It said the associations were closed on the grounds that the minority in Western Thrace was defined as “Muslims,” rather than “Turks,” in the Treaty of Lausanne. It added that Greece had for a period tolerated the use of the word “Turkish” on the signs and report cards of minority schools, but later refused to grant official operating permission to associations bearing that name.
The issue was brought before the European Court of Human Rights in 2005 after the registration applications of the Minority Youth Association in the Evros regional unit and the Turkish Women’s Cultural Association in the Rhodope regional unit were rejected and the Xanthi Turkish Union was closed.
In judgments issued in 2007 and 2008, the court ruled that Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of assembly and association, had been violated.
Regulation on implementing the judgments
Greece’s parliament adopted legislation in 2017 on implementing European Court of Human Rights judgments. Despite objections from opposition parties, the legislation included a provision stating that a judgment might not be implemented when national security was at issue.
The federation said Greece had closed or refused to allow the activities of some associations founded by the Western Thrace Turkish minority on the grounds that they advocated the view that Turks constituted an ethnic minority.
