Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) and Minority Rights
Group-Greece (MRG-G) condemn the reported unanimous
ruling of Greece’s Supreme Court confirming
the dissolution of the “Turkish Union of Xanthi.” Recalling
the prior dissolution of other Turkish associations and
the repeated refusal to register a Macedonian association despite
a related decision of the European Court of Human
Rights, the recent ruling and its justification confirm
the prevailing institutionalized intolerance towards
minorities in Greece. GHM and MRG-G are bringing the
matter to the attention of the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC),
which will review Greece’s implementation of the International
Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), in
late March 2005. The HRC has already formally asked Greece
to comment on the issue in a List of Issues on
Greece (CCPR/C/83/L/GRC/Rev. 1). The HRC question and
GHM & MRG-G’s related submission follow. GHM
and MRG-G will also highlight the more general problem
of violation by Greece of Article 27 of the ICCPR on
minority recognition.
HRC List of Issues on Greece - Issue 19. Please
comment on the alleged non-registration of associations
which include the words “Macedonian”or “Turkish”.
GHM & MRG-G Contribution
There are currently no associations in Greece operating
legally with their names including the words “Macedonian”or “Turkish”to
reflect the ethnic or national identity of their members.
This situation reflects the refusal of Greece to acknowledge
the presence of a Macedonia and a Turkish minority in its
territory.
There is only one (ethnic) Macedonian association that
attempted to register with the courts, the “Home
of Macedonian Civilization”(Stegi Makedonikou
Politismou). It was originally denied registration
as an organization by the Greek courts, between 1990-1994.
Its appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
was successful as, on 10 July 1998, Greece was cited for
the violation of article 11 on freedom of association.[1]
However, the “Home of Macedonian Civilization”has
not been able to register for over six years. All lawyers
of Florina (where the “Stegi”has its seat)
had initially repeatedly refused to take up the case. While
courts had twice refused the association’s request
to appoint a lawyer, despite Greece’s report to the
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe indicating
that courts had been instructed to execute the judgment,
and the Ombudsman’s written opinion that there is “enough
evidence that ‘no lawyer is found’”.[2] Only following the sustained pressure by the Greek Ombudsman,
a lawyer was finally appointed in February 2002.
The new application was again rejected in December 2003,
with the following justification:[3]
“The word ‘Macedonian’–defining
the culture to be preserved –implies that this
culture is something particular and self-contained, so
that it is not clear whether the word is being used in
its historical sense to refer to an integral part of
Greek civilisation with its local specificities, or in
its geographical sense, in which case it is left undefined
which part of the broader region of Macedonia is meant,
as its territory took shape after the Balkan Wars. This
lack of clarity is not only not removed by the name of
the association, which insists on the indiscriminate
use of the term, but is in fact exacerbated by the association
of this culture with a non-existent language, claimed
to be ‘Macedonian’, despite the fact that
in the geographical area of Macedonia it is the Greek
language which is spoken, except by a small portion of
the population, which also speaks –in addition
to Greek –an idiom which is essentially Slavic.
Thus the confusion caused by the general use of the terms
Macedonia and Macedonian, without distinction as to geographical
or historical reference –a confusion existing in
the mind of the states with which the association will
be dealing, in pursuit of its objective through demarches
to and collaboration with these states, and in the mind
of persons interested in participating in the work of
the association in pursuit of this objective –contains
a direct danger to public order and provides an opportunity
for exploitation by external agents who have tried from
time to time, unsuccessfully, to create a historically
non-existent “Macedonian nation”. It is therefore
our decision, in the light of the above, that the application
be rejected.”
The applicants’appeal is pending.
Two Turkish associations were dissolved simultaneously
in the 1987, after having been in existence for fifty years.
The “Union of Turkish Teachers of Western Thrace”(founded
in 1936) was dissolved in November 1987 after the Supreme
Court decision 1729/1987 confirmed the relevant Court of
Appeals of Thrace decision 159/1986. The court held that
the word "Turkish" referred to citizens of Turkey
and could not be used to describe citizens of Greece, and
that the use of the word "Turkish" to describe
Greek Muslims endangered public order. The “Union
of Turkish Youth of Komotini”(founded in 1938) was
dissolved in November 1987 after the Supreme Court decision
1730/1987 confirmed the relevant Court of Appeals of Thrace
decision 160/1986. Again, the court held that the word "Turkish" referred
to citizens of Turkey and could not be used to describe
citizens of Greece, and that the use of the word "Turkish" to
describe Greek Muslims endangered public order.
The third Turkish association, the “Turkish Union
of Xanthi”(founded in 1946), was dissolved in January
2005, after twenty years of related proceedings (the First
Instance Decision dates from 1986 after a dissolution motion
filed in 1984). The Supreme Court let media know (the decision
was to be formally published later) that it had unanimously
confirmed the relevant Court of Appeals of Thrace decision
31/2002. The court let it be known that it adopted the
prosecution’s justification:[4]
“The association’s aim is illegal and contrary
to Greek public order, since it is in contradiction with
the international treaties signed in Lausanne, as it
is attempted openly to present that in Greece (the area
of Western Thrace) there is a national Turkish minority,
while according to these treaties only the presence of
a religious Muslim minority is recognized in the area.
The reference to the Turkish identity does not reflect
some remote Turkish origin but a current quality as members
of a Turkish minority that would exist in Greece and
would pursue the promotion within the Greek state of
state interests of a foreign state and specifically Turkey.
The association with its actions (…) gravely endangers
Greek public order and national security (…) and
raises a non-existent minority problem of ‘Turks’”
It should be noted there exist hundreds of associations
of Greeks with the word “Macedonian”in their
titles to reflect the geographical seat and/or the Greek
regional identity of their members. Moreover, within the
officially recognized Muslim minority, there exist associations
that have the word “Pomak”or “Roma”in
their titles, reflecting the ethnic identity of the Muslims
who do not identify as Turks.
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