14 September 1994

Doc. 7151

REPLY

from the Committee of Ministers

to Written Question No. 356

by Mr GÜNER

on the situation of human rights in Greece

I.       Question (4 February 1994, Doc. 7018)

      Mr Güner,

      Noting that the Treaty of Lausanne guarantees certain rights and freedoms of the Turkish minority in Greece;

      Considering that despite these guarantees, the fundamental rights and freedoms of this minority are being constantly violated as part of a government policy to assimilate and intimidate this minority in western Thrace;

      Bearing in mind that one of the means of intimidation is to deprive members of this minority of their Greek nationality. This is realised through Article 19 of the Greek Nationality Code which stipulates that Greek nationals of non-Greek origin may be deprived of their nationality by administrative decree. Under this administrative decree, citizenship of Greek nationals of non-Greek origin may be revoked without any judicial procedure or an efficient means of appeal,

      To ask the Committee of Ministers:

      i.       if it is aware of the provisions of Article 19 of the Greek Nationality Code and the way this article has been used to intimidate the Turkish minority in western Thrace by revoking the Greek nationality of hundreds of persons belonging to this minority;

      ii.       whether it is aware of the conclusions regarding Article 19 of the Greek Nationality Code, of Rapporteur Karel de Gucht, who prepared the annual report for 1992 of the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs on respect for human rights in the European Community, regarding Article 19 of the Greek Nationality Code;

      iii.       if it considers the provisions of Article 19 of the Greek Nationality Code, which discriminates among Greek citizens on the basis of their ethnic origins, compatible with provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, especially with Article 14 of the convention;

      iv.       if it envisages taking any action to improve the human rights practices of the Greek Government with regard to the Turkish minority in western Thrace.

II.       Reply by the Committee of Ministers (8 September 1994)

      The Committee of Ministers would like to assure the Honourable Member that the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Greece as in all the member states of the Council of Europe is of constant interest to the Committee of Ministers.

      The Committee of Ministers has taken note of the declarations made by the Representatives of Greece and Turkey with regard to the legislative provisions mentioned in the question put by the Honourable Member.

      For its part, the Committee of Ministers considers that it is not for it to judge whether or not these legislative provisions are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. This responsibility lies with the bodies created by this Convention, and the Committee of Ministers notes, in this context, that Greece is a Contracting Party to the Convention and has accepted the right of individual petition. Therefore, any person claiming to be a victim of a violation of one or several of the rights and freedoms recognised by the Convention by virtue of the application of the legislative provisions mentioned by the Honourable Member, is entitled to lodge a complaint with the Commission in accordance with the procedure and under the conditions defined in this legal instrument.