Repeated refusals to register associations involving Turkish minorities in Greece

Background

Hasan Bekir-Ousta and other applicants are Greek nationals living in the Evros region. In 1995, with other members of Muslim minority, they set up a non-profit association called the “Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association”. The association was created to protect and promote the minority’s traditions; develop relations between its members; and protect human rights, democracy and friendship between Greek and Turkish people.

However, in 1996, the Greek courts refused to register the association. They ruled that the Treaty of Lausanne recognised only a Muslim minority, and not a Turkish one, in Western Thrace; and that the name of the association was confusing.  

Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights

The European Court found a violation of the right to freedom of association. In doing so, the Court noted that the refusal to register the association was based on mere suspicion as to the true intention of the association’s founders, which they never had an opportunity to prove wrong. In addition, the Court ruled that merely recognising that there was an ethnic minority did not alone amount to a threat to democratic society, especially when there was nothing advocating violence or anti-democratic methods in the articles of the association.

Shortcomings in Implementation

Ten years after the judgment of the Court – and twenty years after the first attempt to register the Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association - the organisation has still not been registered. Despite repeated rulings from the European Court of Human Rights, the Greek courts continue to refuse to register Turkish associations. Nevertheless, the Greek authorities have falsely claimed to the Council of Europe that the problem has been resolved and that registrations can now take place. Thanks to submissions from EIN member the Greek Helsinki Monitor, as well as other NGOs, the Council of Europe has been kept aware that the problem is ongoing. The case remains open and under enhanced procedure.

EIN Activities

EIN member the Greek Helsinki Monitor follows the implementation of this case closely. It has submitted numerous Rule 9 submissions to the Council of Europe and has presented the case at a number of EIN briefings to representatives of the Committee of Ministers. A member of the Greek Helsinki Monitor attended an EIN training in February 2018. EIN also welcomes the active involvement of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe with the cases of their community.

-        Case summary on Hudoc-EXEC

-        Submission by the Greek Helsinki Monitor (July 2019)

- Video by the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe: