The Turks of Western Trakia attract attention to the fact that the rule of law in Greece is “under a serious threat”, and the influence of politics on the judicial system has become obvious.
The Federation of the Turks of Western Trakia in Europe (ABTTF) made a statement to draw attention to the legal problems that the Turks of the Western Trakia are faced.
The statement notes that criticism expressed by the former deputy prime minister and professor of constitutional law by Evangelos Veniselos in his speech on March 27, 2025 regarding the rule of law, the justice and functioning of the economy, once again shows the importance of this issue.
In the policy of the politician it was emphasized that the rule of law in the country is “under a serious threat” and the influence of politics on the judicial system became obvious.
“illegal listening of telephone conversations, judicial scandals and pressure related to the train accident revealed a direct influence of politics on the judicial system. Failure to fulfill the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights relating to the associations of our community (Western Trakia), for 17 years is perhaps the most obvious example of a systematic violation of the rule of law and politicization of law in our country,” the statement said in the statement said organizations.
Closing of public organizations and the decision of the ECHR
The Turkish Union of Xanthi (TSK), founded in 1927, the Turkish Union of Youth Komotini (TSMK), founded in 1928, and the Turkish Union of Teachers of Western Trakia (TsUZK), founded in 1936, were closed in the 1980s on the grounds that their names contained the word “Turks” and the minority in Western tracies in the Western tracia in the Western tracies in the Western tracies The Lausanne Treaty was defined as “Muslim”, and not “Turkish”.
For some time, the word “Turks” on the signs and tablets of minority schools was ignored by Greece, and after this date of the association with the name “Turks” do not have official status.
Youth Association of Evros Prefecture and Turkish Female Cultural Association of the Prefecture of Rodopa and TSK in 2005 turned to the ECHR.
In its decisions of 2007 and 2008, the court ruled that Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHF) on freedom of assembly and associations.
The legal status on the adaptation of the decision of the ECHR by Greek courts was approved by the Greece parliament in 2017 after the objections of opposition parties with the addition of the wording “The decision cannot be executed in the event of national security.”