Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association Human Rights Council Forum on Minority Issues Fifth Session Geneva, 27-28 November 2012 Contact Persons: Pervin Hayrullah (Chairoula) chairoulapAyahoo.com Dr. Ali Huseyinoglu (Chouseinoglou) alihuseyinoalul (&,gmail.com . Ms/Mr. Chairperson, Distinguished delegates, And civil society representatives, Approximately 150.0001 Muslim Turkish People2 live in Western Thrace - the northeast part of Greece. The legal status of this minority was established by the Peace Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the bilateral agreements signed between Greece and Turkey and the international instruments concerning human and minority rights, which Greece signed and ratified. The Turkish Minority of Western Thrace has been facing several restrictions regarding basic human and minority rights for decades. As of 2012, the denial of Turkish ethnic identity, the freedom of association, expelled citizens, education, religious issues, the management of religious charitable foundations/waqf are among the most problematic issues of the minority, which contradict particularly with Article 1, 2, 4 and 6 of the 1992 UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (hereinafter the Declaration): In this session, I would like to give examples about some practices in Greece which contradict to Article 1 of the Declaration that protects and promotes ethnic, religious, and cultural identities of persons belonging to minorities. In this respect, denial of ethnic Turkish identity, prohibition of Turkish associations and deprival of Greek citizenship will be addressed. Article 1 of the Declaration states that: 1. States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity. 2. States shall adopt appropriate legislative and other measures to achieve those ends. However, the Greek authorities .have been denying insistently the minority's ethnic Turkish identity since the military Junta regime of 1967. Until that time, the minority was free to express the Turkish identity either individually or collectively without facing any restrictions from local Greek authorities. After being an EU member in 1981, the official rejection of ethnic Turkish identity of the minority came to the forefront when local Greek authorities decided to ban the long-standing Turkish associations, i.e. Xanthi Turkish Union3, Komotini Turkish Youth Union4, and Western Thrace Turkish Teachers Unions . Komotini Turkish Youth Union and Western Thrace Turkish Teachers Union were closed down permanently in 1987 with the court decision. Only, the case of Xanthi Turkish Union was brought up to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In this case (Tourkiki Enosi Xanthis and Others v. Greece No: 26698/05), the ECtHR decided that the freedom of association of the Turkish minority has been violated. Still the Greek Courts reject any application to reregister Xanthi Turkish Union and new applications for establishment of other Turkish and some minority associations whose cases were brought before the ECtHR, such as the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of Rodopi (Emin and Others v. Greece No: 34144/05) and the Evros Minority Youth Association (Bekir Ousta vs. Greece No: 35151/05, 11 October 2007). This stands against Article 2.4 of the Declaration: — — Article 2 4. Persons belonging to minorities have the right to establish and maintain their own associations. The Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code (No: 3370 of 1955) stands as one of the most prominent examples regarding the denial of ethnic Turkish identity in Western Thrace. Page I2