A victim of Greek repression of Turks, the Xanthi (Iskeçe) Turkish Union (ITB), one of the oldest nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) representing the Turkish minority in Greece's Western Thrace, continues fighting for its rights, 40 years after it faced a partial ban that was followed by an outright ban years later.
Ozan Ahmetoğlu, incumbent chair of the union, said Greece is obliged to implement European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings but it has been 15 years since the ruling and Greece has defied the ECtHR ruling.
The ITB was founded in 1927 and remained in "association" status until 1983 before Greece moved to close it, as part of its policy of the "denial" of Turkish identity in the country. Ahmetoğlu told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Friday that their headquarters were raided by police on Dec. 7, 1983, and they removed the association's sign carrying the name "Turkish." The ITB suffered the fate of other Turkish associations bearing "Turkish" in their name. What followed was a lawsuit by the Xanthi governorate for the closure of the ITB.
"This is when our fight for justice began," he said.
It took decades for an appeals court to approve a ruling for the closure of the union in 2005. Ahmetoğlu said that the ruling was the first step of a new wave of discrimination against the Turkish minority, "by media and politicians."
"We took our case to the ECtHR and the court ruled against Greece in 2008. After the ruling, we took our case to Greek courts for reinstatement of institutional identity and legal status of our association. but the Greek courts rejected us (defying the ECtHR ruling) and our struggle for justice continued. It has been 15 years now," he said.
The court of appeals ruled against the union again in 2021. Ahmetoğlu said they are looking to exhaust all means to protest the ruling and revive the case.
"If Greece is a modern, democratic country with laws, it should comply with international laws and human rights. They have a responsibility to implement ECtHR rulings but they don’t do it," Ahmetoğlu said.
He mentioned that they would soon screen a documentary about their fight for justice. "This documentary emphasizes the fault of policies ignoring the Western Thracian Turkish minority’s rights," he said.