European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Greece to pay indemnity in one of two cases filed by Turkish Minority Foundations, on Thursday. In the first case, ECHR ruled that Greece has violated the Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights on "the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others" by shutting down foundations belonging to the Turkish minority. In this case filed by Galip Galip and his seven consorts --upon the dissolution of "Iskece Turkish Union" and "Western Thrace Turkish Alumni" associations-- the court ordered Greek Government to pay an indemnity of 8 thousand Euro.
STRASBOURG -
The second case was filed by Hulya Emin and her friends in 2005 against the dissolution of the "Turkish Women`s Cultural Organisation " .
Considering the prolongment of the case, the ECHR ruled that Greece had violated the Article 6 of the convention on "the right to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law", but did not order payment of indemnities.
The reasoned verdict said, associations had the right to promote their ethnic cultures and this did not constitute a threat of any sorts to a democratic society. It said minorities of different cultures were a historic reality and noted that democratic countries should tolerate and protect these minorities.
Greek courts ordered the dissolution of the said foundations on the grounds that they identified themselves as "Turkish Minority" rather than "Muslim Minority" .
30.03.2008
What Turkish Minority? - This is ONLY the calm before the storm...
Another Attack on Hellenic Culture - One more example of Bigotry for Ethic Greeks
Prime Minister Stephen Harper gestures as he responds during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. (Fred Chartrand / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
During question period on Wednesday, Bloc MP Michel Guimond asked Harper why his deputy press secretary, Dimitri Soudas, tried to intervene in a dispute between Public Works and a Montreal developer called Rosdev Group in 2006.
Conservative party fundraiser Leo Housakos, who now sits on the board of Via Rail, also tried to intervene in the dispute around the same time.
"The prime minister cannot plead ignorance concerning what Mr. Housakos did," said Guimond.
"It was his own government that appointed him to Via Rail. In that context, can the prime minister tell us whether he himself has met Mr. Housakos at 24 Sussex, his official residence?"
Harper shot back in French: "The Bloc member mentioned two people who are of Greek origin: one who was an employee here in Ottawa, another one who is a supporter of the Conservative party in Montreal. The fact that (there's) two Montreal gentlemen of Greek origin doesn't mean there's a conspiracy here."
Liberal MP John Cannis, who is Greek-Canadian, rose on a point of order and demanded that Harper "apologize publicly to each and every Greek-Canadian."
He said Harper's comment "put a black mark on the over half-a-million Greek-Canadians that played even a small role in the development of this great country. The prime minister insulted the entire Greek community."
Cannis later told CTV's Mike Duffy Live that Harper had no need to mention the ethnicity of Housakos and Soudas.
"I was very angry as a proud Greek-Canadian," said Cannis. "I could not understand why the prime minister had to attach his response to any ethnicity, not matter what the ethnicity may be."
Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe later told reporters that he was surprised by Harper's response, considering his party's questions had nothing to do with the men being Greek-Canadian.
"There is no link between the fact those people are from Greek origin. None at all," he said.
Opposition parties have questioned why Public Works took legal action against Rosdev to acquire a building in Ottawa. The Conservatives said a lawsuit was the only way to deal with several lingering disputes with the developer.
According to a report in the Globe and Mail, Soudas organized a meeting in PMO offices in August 2006, "asking whether it was possible to come to a mediated solution."
Conservative MP Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity, said he dismissed the incident as a "classic non-story."
"Nothing happened. The government has continued with its current position in the courts against the developer," he said. "A meeting was had but no one gained anything. There is not the appearance of a conflict of interest."
Soudas spoke to reporters Wednesday and said he was only doing his job.
"There was no interference," he said.
"For those who choose to serve the public, in the spirit of transparency, looking into a file makes common sense. The file was looked into. As you may have noticed, the issue was before the courts at the time, it remains before the courts today. Basically, no favours were exchanged," he said.
Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc said officials must look into the possibility of government interference in the legal dispute.
"You have an organizer who has been appointed to the board of Via Rail -- probably because of his life-long experience in passenger rail experience," he said sarcastically. "You have political staffers from the Prime Minister's Office summon political staffers from Public Works to a meeting ... None of this is routine, none of this is normal.
"If the developer was interested in negotiating a solution, he probably doesn't go through Conservative fundraisers and PMO staff members. It's probably done through the lawyers."
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Depressive Symptoms Higher In Europe’s Latin Countries
November 01st, 2007 | Category: Depression
Among older citizens, depressive symptoms and syndromes are more prevalent in the latin countries of Europe (France Italy and Spain), than in the Germanic (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands) and Hellenic (Greece) countries. that is particularly true of symptoms related to lack of motivation, according to a new study of by 22,000 older Europeans published in the November 2007 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Original post by Women’s Health / Gynecology News From Medical News Today
chronic dark doctor leg links social sports treatment blog self injury nurse life insurance admin sports medicine girls remedy humans
Comment:
As you read the above article you will notice how the British Journal of Psychiatry classifies the European Races. Next time you are asked what type of race you classify yourself, say it loud just as the article above says; the Hellenic Race.
U.S. House of Reps FYROM Resolution
Resolution
110th Congress, 1st Session
In the House of Representatives
Resolution
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) should stop the utilization of materials that violate provisoins of the United Nations-brokered Interim Agreement between the FYROM and Greece regarding "hostile activities or propaganda" and should work with the United Nations and Greece to achieve longstanding United States and United Nations policy goals of finding a mutually-acceptable official name for the FYROM.
Whereas on April 8, 1993, the United Nations General Assembly admitted as a member of the Former Yugloslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), under the name the "Former Yugloslav Republic of Macedonia";
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 817 (1993) states that the dispute over the name must be resolved to maintain peaceful relations between Greece and the FYROM;
Whereas on September 13, 1995, Greece and the FYROM signed a United Nations-brokered Interim Accord that, among other things, commits them to not "support claims to any part of the territory of the other party or claims for a change of their existing frontiers";
Whereas a pre-eminent goal of the United Nations Interim Accord was to stop the FYROM from utilizing, since its admittance to the United Nations in 1993, what the Accord calls, "propaganda," including in school textbooks;
Whereas a television report in recent years showed students in a state-run school in the FYROM still being taught that parts of Greece, including Greek Macedonia, are rightfully part of the FYROM:
Whereas some textbooks, including the Military Academy textbook published in 2004 by the Military Academy "General Mihailo Apostolski" in the FYROM capital city, contain maps showing that a "Greater Macedonia" extends many miles south into Greece to Mount Olympus and miles east to Mount Pirin in Bulgaria;
Whereas in direct contradiction of the spirit of the United Nations Interim Accord's section "A," entitled "Friendly Relations and Confidence Building Measures," which attempts to eliminate challenges regarding "historic and cultural patrimony," the Government of FYROM recently renamed the capital city's international airport "Alexander the Great";
Whereas the aforementioned acts constitute a breach of the FYROM's international obligations deriving from the spirit of the United Naitons Interim Acord, which provides that FYROM should abstain from any form of "propaganda" against Greece's historical or cultural heritage;
Whereas such acts are not compatible with the Article 10 of the United Nations Interim Accord regarding "improving understanding and good neighborly relations," as well as with European standards and values endorsed by European Union member-states; and
Whereas this information, like that exposed in the media report and elsewhere, being used contrary to the United Nations Interim Accord instills hostility and a rationale for irredentism in portions of the populations of the FYROM toward Greece and the history of Greece: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
urges the Former Yugoslave Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to observe its obligations under Article 7 of the 1995 United Nations-brokered Interim Accord which directs the parties to "promptly take effective measures to prohibit hostile activities or propaganda by state-controlled agencies and to discourage acts by private entities likely to incite violence, hated or hostility" and review the contents of textbooks, maps, and teaching aids to ensure that such tools are stating accurate information; and
urges the FYROM to work within the framework of the United Nations process with Greece to achieve longstanding United States and United Nations policy goals by reacing a mutually-acceptable official name for the FYROM.
(THE SAGA CONTINUES...) Keep your Friends close and the Destroyers of Hellenism Closer!
"Europe Would Lose If Turkey Is Rejected" Chris Patten in The Hindu (India)18 October 2007
The Hindu (India)
This is no way to treat a friend — Europe has just as much to lose as Turkey if the doubters prevail in the EU membership battle..
For the third year in a row, Turkey’s annual hurdles on the winding path of convergence with the European Union — a progress report early next month and the European Council in December — are likely to be bruising. Doubters will seize on gridlock over Cyprus and a pause in legislative reform to allege that Turkey is not changing and should be pushed back outside the EU’s gates. They will point to Ankara’s response to the United States’ e fforts to declare the 1915-23 killing of Armenians a genocide, and the political push for an incursion into northern Iraq to deal with cross-border terrorist attacks, as evidence that Turkey is not ready to join the club. So it is worth stepping back and considering why Europe needs Turkey.
Turkey was critical to Europe in the Cold War. For 40 years, it stood lonely guard on the south-eastern third of NATO’s frontline, paying the price in military-heavy government and delayed development. There was little carping about its Muslim identity then, and a cultural variety that included Turkey was considered a European strength. After communism’s collapse, Turkey kept contributing to Europe’s security, giving troops and legitimacy to EU-backed missions in Afghanistan, Lebanon, the Balkans, and even Congo. If EU-Turkish relations had not stumbled (for which all sides are responsible), it would likely be supporting a force for Darfur.
Golden period
The process of convergence has been strongly in Europe’s interest as well, especially the golden period between 1999 and 2005: wide-ranging reforms fashioned a more European political system; peace and cooperation replaced friction with Greece; an annual economic growth of 7.5 per cent benefited European companies; Turkey’s new trust in the EU brought a turnaround on Cyprus that nearly solved the problem; and basic freedoms of religion and expression improved. The EU won credibility as a fair-minded player in the Muslim world.
But the sum of these many parts is not seen by European people and politicians, consumed by doubts about enlargement, immigration and their own economic security.
Election campaigns — notably those of Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel — featured a demeaning of the Turkish “other” and proposals that Europe drop its promise of membership. Conservative EU politicians admit privately that Turkey is more benefit than threat, but that to say so out loud would be political suicide.
Fears about instant membership are misplaced. Nobody suggests Turkey will be ready for a decade or more. Incomes are less than half the EU average, and EU norms are far from implemented. Accession will be imminent only when the stiffest conditions applied to any candidate are fulfilled (and every EU state will still have a veto).
Indeed, depending on how the EU develops, Turkey may have second thoughts.
Most important for both the EU and Turkey is to re-launch the process of convergence that has brought so much benefit to both sides. Turkish voters have shown their faith in this process, returning the pro-reform AK party to power. It has gone straight back to work, tackling in an open spirit one of the key problems in Turkey’s democratisation: the 1982 military-era constitution.
As EU leaders prepare for the annual debate over how much reform Turkey has done and how much it should do, they should do all they can to renew Turkey’s trust in the EU. The cost of restoring the motivational goal of membership is not high, and the reward great. Turkey is not fundamentally different to Greece, Spain, and Portugal, where EU leaps of faith were essential to a transition from military authoritarianism to stability and democracy. — ©Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007
(Lord Patten, the former European commissioner for external relations, is chairman of the board of the International Crisis Group www.crisisgroup.org)
Comments: I think its important to state some historical facts about the Turkey and their origins.
Historically, Turkic people have lived and left their influence throughout many parts of Eurasia. They have consistently maintained a policy of assimilation, by absorbing the different cultures that they conquered into their own culture, and maintaining many of the useful ideas and influences of the conquered cultures. Turkish political history began with the creation of the powerful Hunnic State, which was able to expand its borders from Eastern Turkestan and Central Asia to Central and Western Europe under the command of Attila.
After the Huns, until 1040 a series of states founded by various Turkic tribes rose to prominence and consequently collapsed due to invasions from other Turkic tribes. One group in particular was the House of Seljuk, a branch of the Kınık Oğuz Turks who, in the 9th century, resided on the periphery of the Muslim world, north of the Caspian and Aral Seas in the Yabghu Khaganate of the Oğuz confederacy.[14] In the 10th century, the Seljuks migrated from their homelands in Central Asia into the eastern Anatolian regions.
The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power (ca. 1680)Following their victory over the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Turks permanently settled in Anatolia, giving rise to the Anatolian Seljuk State which developed as a separate branch of the larger Seljuk Empire. During the time of the Seljuk dominance, there were two other prominent Turkish states, the Karahanids and Ghaznavids who became unified under Seljuk rule. In 1243, the Seljuk armies were defeated by the Mongols and the power of the empire slowly disintegrated. In its wake, one of the Turkish principalities governed by Osman I was to evolve into the Ottoman Empire, thus filling the void left by the collapsed Seljuks and Byzantines.
The Ottoman Empire interacted with both Eastern and Western cultures throughout its 623-year history. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was among the world's most powerful political entities, often locking horns with the powers of eastern Europe in its steady advance through the Balkans and the southern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.[Following years of decline, the Ottoman Empire entered World War I through the Ottoman-German Alliance in 1914, and was ultimately defeated. After the war, the victorious Allied Powers sought the dismemberment of the Ottoman state through the Treaty of Sèvres.
The Question remains, "WHAT WILL EUROPE LOOSE IF TURKEY IS NOT ADMITTED IN THE EU" Most certain History has taught what side they pick.
