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Hürriyet Daily News (25 June 2025)

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Greece violated the right to freedom of association by refusing to register a women’s organization that sought to include the term “Turkish” in its name.

The case began in December 2010, when seven Greek women from Xanthi applied to register an organization with the name “Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Xanthi.”

While the association’s charter limited membership to adult women of Greek nationality residing in Xanthi, it explicitly identified its members as “Turkish” women rather than just Muslims of Greek nationality and citizenship. This ethnic self-identification was central to the dispute.

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