Greece has launched a judicial investigation into a march for rights by members of the country’s Turkish minority that took place in July 2021. 

The march, which was organized by the Xhanti Turkish Union (ITB), one of the oldest and most influential associations of Greece’s Turkish minority, was attended by thousands of people and prominent figures from the minority and protested against Greece’s not applying decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which favored the minority.

The investigation by the public prosecutor in northeastern Xanthi province claims that “provocative speeches and lies” against the Greek state and its judicial authorities were delivered at the march, during which COVID-19 measures were also violated, said the pro-minority Millet Gazetesi daily.

The president of the ITB, Ozan Ahmetoglu, drew attention to the fact that the investigation was initiated seven months after the march.

“We, as ITB, resolutely will continue to struggle for our rights, as we have been doing for the last 39 years,” he said on Twitter.

The Friendship, Equality and Peace Party (DEB) – a party popular among Greece’s Turkish minority, rejected the claims by the public prosecutor and reiterated that the march had urged Greece to comply with the ECHR rulings.

“Our country, Greece, should abandon intimidation policies towards its Muslim Turkish minority and cease to perceive them as a threat,” the party said in a statement.

Other preeminent minority associations in northeastern Greece including the Western Thrace Turkish Teachers Union (BTTOB), Komotini Turkish Youth Union (GTGB) and the Western Thrace Turkish Minority Consultation Council (BTTADK) also expressed support for ITB and condemned the investigation and state policies towards the Turkish minority in general.

A prominent diaspora organization of Greece’s Turkish minority, the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), also released a statement slamming the move.

“The launch of an investigation after 7 months of the democratic march organized by the Xanthi Turkish Union, which has been struggling for 39 years, is a clear continuation of our country’s policies of intimidation and suppression of the Turkish community in Western Thrace,” said the statement.

Decades-long struggle for rights

​​​​​​​Under the 2008 ECHR ruling, the right of Turks in Western Thrace to use the word "Turkish" in the name of associations was guaranteed, but Athens has failed to carry out the ruling, effectively banning the Turkish group’s identity.

Greece’s Western Thrace region is home to a Muslim Turkish community of around 150,000.

In 1983, the nameplate of the Xanthi Turkish Union (Iskece Turk Birligi) was taken down, and the group was completely banned in 1986, on the pretext that the word “Turkish” was in its name.

To apply the ECHR decision, in 2017, the Greek parliament passed a law enabling the banned associations to apply for re-registration, but the legislation included major exceptions that complicated the applications.

Turkiye has long decried Greek violations of the rights of its Muslim and Turkish minority, from closing down mosques and shutting down schools to not letting Muslim Turks elect their own religious leaders.

These measures violate the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne as well as ECHR verdicts, making Greece a state that flouts the law, say Turkish officials./aa

Authorities in the Mexican state of Jalisco have discovered at least 28 bodies inside more than 30 bags at a clandestine burial site in the city of Tonala, the State Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday.  

According to the Special Prosecutor for Disappeared Persons (FEPD), Blanca Jacqueline Trujillo, the actual number of bodies at the burial site may grow, as authorities have so far only explored 50% of the land where the grim discovery was made. 

“The examination of the land and investigation continue to find those responsible for the clandestine burial. Of the 28, we already have pre-identified five bodies -- people who had an open investigation file,” Trujillo told the La Jornada news outlet. 

According to Trujillo, the burial site was found while authorities were looking for a specific person reported missing. 

Last October, the National Commissioner for the Search of Missing Persons in Mexico, Karla Quintana, disclosed the recorded findings of clandestine burial sites from 2006 to September 2021. 

As reported by Quintana, the search for clandestine graves, a recurring method for organized crime to dispose of bodies, has led to the discovery of 4,806 burial sites in the country and the recovery of 8,202 bodies.

According to the commission, under the current administration of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 1,971 illegal graves have been discovered in the country. 

Jalisco reported 262 illegal graveyards from 2006 to 2021, becoming the state with the largest rate of retrieved remains in the republic, with 1,388 bodies found. 

In Mexico, burial sites are often referred to as “zones of exterminium” where criminals often linked to the region’s drug cartel dispose of their victims. ​​​​​​​

Once found, authorities could take from 12 to 18 months to identify the remains, as there are not enough resources or staff to respond to the multiple burial sites found./aa

Illicit drug deaths in the Canadian province of British Columbia (B.C.) reached an all-time high of 2,224 in 2021, according to statistics released this week by the B.C. government.

"The suffering that is happening in our province is sometimes unbearable," said Lisa LaPointe, B.C.'s chief coroner.

The deaths, detailed in her coroner's report, represent a 26% increase in fatalities compared to 2020.

LaPointe and health experts said street drugs contained deadly fentanyl and it was detected in 83% of deaths, while the even more potent carfentanil was present in 187 deaths.

She said street drugs in the past have not been this dangerous and she urged more action to provide better addiction services and safer drugs.

The B.C. government has taken action. In November, it applied to the federal government to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs.

"Substance use and addictions is a public health issue, it is not a criminal justice issue," provincial mental health and addictions minister Sheila Malcolmson said at a news conference in November. She added that "shame and fear keeps people from accessing life-saving services and treatments."

A public health emergency due to illicit drug deaths was declared by the B.C. government in 2016 and since then, "more than 8,800 British Columbians have been lost to toxic drugs," according to a government report.

LaPointe said that in 2021, 210 people died in November and another 215 in December -- all suspected street-drug overdoses. That is about seven deaths per day.

She wants the federal government to act on decriminalization illicit drugs now and to increase funding for more treatment and recovery services, as there is now a log-jam for those services.

"People are dying on waiting lists," she said.

Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry and Malcolmson released a joint statement after the release of the coroner's report and addressed the issue of better addiction services.

"We know one of the most important ways to keep people alive in this crisis is to ensure a safer supply to replace toxic illicit drugs and the expansion of this life-saving program is now underway across our province," they said in the statement./aa

Somalia's Foreign Ministry urged the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to "immediately" investigate the deaths of five nationals who were found dead along the Greek-Turkish border earlier this month.

"The Federal of Somalia has been regrettably informed that the migrants found frozen to death along the Greek- Turkish border included five Somali nationals," the ministry said in a statement.

The five Somalis were among 12 people found frozen to death on Feb. 2.

Somalia said it was "deeply saddened" about the tragic loss of the individuals and it is mourning for the loss. It offered "heartfelt" condolences to the families of the victims and loved ones.

Mogadishu demanded that concerned countries and the UN follow up and investigate circumstances surrounding the deaths and condemned in the "strongest possible terms the violation of human rights, human dignity and safety of human lives in line with” the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to refugees.

Nineteen irregular migrants were found frozen to death near the border last week, having been stripped of their belongings, including clothes and shoes, before being pushed back to Turkiye by Greek border officials.

Greece, calling the incident a "tragedy," firmly denied any involvement.

Turkiye and international human rights groups have criticized Greece’s inhumane treatment of migrants and accused it of disregarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights./aa

Anticipating massive traffic disruption, Paris police on Thursday prohibited the oncoming motorcade dubbed the “freedom convoy” from entering the capital over the weekend.

Hurt over inflation and COVID-19 restrictions targeting unvaccinated people, several hundred French motorists from across the country are moving towards Paris, inspired by the trucker's mobilization in Canada against the vaccine mandate in North America.

Organizers of the movement, which has emerged entirely through social media campaigns, have not announced any location for assembly in Paris or asked participants to organize blockades.

However, expecting public order disturbances, the prefecture of police issued an order prohibiting any demonstrations from Friday, Feb. 11 to Monday, Feb. 14. The police chief said firm instructions have been given to the internal security forces to arrest and take action against the violators.

In order to prevent the motorists from creating heavy snarls in and around Paris, similar to the blockage of several roads in Canada and the US impacting cross-border traffic, the city’s police have announced a series of hefty penalties. These include two years in prison, €4500 ($5,145) fine, impoundment of the vehicle, and suspension of the driving license for up to three years.

After demonstrations in Paris, organizers of the freedom convoy have announced their intention to continue their journey towards Brussels. The police order said organizers blocking traffic on the highways could be punished with six-month imprisonment and a €7,500 ($8,577) fine.

The participants in the French freedom convoy do not have a singular defined goal and appear to air their grievances on measures from inflation, soaring gas and electricity prices to the vaccine law.

With the presidential elections around the corner, the growing social resentment could dent the vote share of incumbent Emmanuel Macron who is likely to seek reelection.

Spokesperson Gabriel Attal has said the government is conscious of the weariness of the French who are fed up with the epidemic and assured that the restrictions on the vaccine pass could be lifted by April if the pandemic situation declines./aa