Muslim union to contest ban
A Greek Muslim group banned by the country’s highest civil court this month on grounds of national security for calling itself Turkish has said it will appeal the decision at the European Court of Human Rights. «Following the publication of the official ruling, the Turkish Union of Xanthi… shall apply to the European Court of Human Rights in search of justice which has been denied to it within Greece,» the group said in a statement dated January 19, obtained by AFP yesterday. The statement is co-signed by 12 other Greek Muslim groups, including its issuer, the «Consultative Committee of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace.» Thrace is home to a 100,000-strong Muslim, Turkish-speaking community that has often been a source of friction between Greece and Turkey. Athens recognizes the community as Muslim but not as ethnically Turkish, citing the international 1923 Treaty of Lausanne that established modern Turkey. Established in 1927, the Turkish Union of Xanthi numbers some 2,400 members.