A/HRC/10/11/Add.3 page 22 the minority status of other communities, stating that those claims are unsubstantiated and politically motivated. To some degree, however, the government seems concerned that such recognition would ipso facto implicate the foreign policy of the Greek state toward a neighboring state. 82. One also senses an interest in promoting a singular national identity. This approach may leave little room for diversity. It can contribute to a climate in which citizens who wish to freely express their ethnic identities face government blockages and in some instances, intimidation from other individuals or groups. In the northern part of the country some people expressed their view that the term “minority” implies “foreign.” Some consider those who want to identify as a person belonging to a minority ethnic group to be conspirators against the interest of the Greek state. 83. Greece recognizes only one minority, that is the Muslim Religious Minority in Western Thrace, which is protected by the terms and protocols of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne which also provides reciprocally for the protection of the Greek Orthodox minority living in Turkey. Matters relating to the Muslim minority and the full observance and implementation of the Treaty of Lausanne, are handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While members of the Muslim minority are fully citizens of Greece, Turkey is allowed to have a Consulate in the region of Western Thrace and to involve itself in matters relating to the Muslim minority relevant to the Treaty of Lausanne. 84. Greece does not recognize differing ethnic or linguistic minorities, although it acknowledges that groups, like the Roma, are disadvantaged or vulnerable groups. So, Roma (those who are not Muslims), Muslims who are not from Western Thrace, those who claim a Macedonian ethnicity and more recent but settled immigrant communities are limited with respect to the full enjoyment of their rights of self-identification and the particular enhanced protections that they may be due as minorities. Muslims in Western Thrace face limitations on the full enjoyment of their right to have their Turkish ethnicity acknowledged. Further, those who identify as belonging to an ethnic Macedonian minority face social pressures and a challenge to their motives by the government. Associations have been denied registration because their desired name includes the words “Turkish” or “Macedonian.” Their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association as protected under Article 19 and Article 22 of the ICCPR respectively have been infringed. 85. In both Western Thrace and the region of Central and West Macedonia, the debate over issues of recognized identities has been contentious. Tensions persist and there have been credible reports of intimidation. 86. While noting the historical origins of the Greek government’s obligations toward the Muslim minority in Western Thrace and the political history of the Balkans, the Independent Expert urges Greece to consider its obligations with respect to minority populations as arising within the post-1945 legal framework of modern human rights treaties and jurisprudence based on the principle that protection of human rights and