ABTTF President: “The problems of our community and our rightful demands for the solution of our issues have been taken into account with such clear expressions for the first time by a political party represented in the national assembly. I hope the rulers of our country will get the necessary messages from this exemplary step of MeRA25.”
MeRA25 announced the party programme regarding the minority policy regarding the Turkish community in Western Thrace before the general elections expected to be held in our country Greece next April.
According to a news report from Gündem, a party represented in the Greek Parliament published a party programme on minority policy for the first time. The minority program published in Turkish by the MeRA25 with the slogan ‘‘The only party that supports the minority and the rightful demands of the minority’’ refers directly to the issues related to the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
MeRA25 supports the provision of bilingual kindergarten education to the Turkish community in Western Thrace, while demanding that the associations of the Turkish community be freely established under their own names and with names that define their ethnic identities in the minority programme.
Indicating that the muftis should be elected or determined by the members of the Turkish community and the appointments of those to be elected or determined should be made by the state, MeRA25 noted that all the authorities in matters concerning the Turkish community should be transferred to the Ministry of Interior, and thus demanding the removal of the competences with respect to the issues pertaining to the Turkish community which are in the hands of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Greek National Intelligence Organisation (EYP).
“As the general elections in our country Greece are approaching, political parties accelerated their electoral work. It is an important step in the political history of our country that MeRA25 announced the party programmw about the minority policy towards our community and shared it with the public through brochures published in Turkish. This is because the issues of our community and our rightful demands for the solution of our issues have been taken into account with such clear expressions for the first time by a political party represented in the national assembly. I hope the rulers of our country will get the necessary messages from this exemplary step of MeRA25. We want our rights and freedoms to be respected and to be able to use them. As loyal citizens of our country, we do not want to be scapegoated in politics and the media at every opportunity, and we do not want to be portrayed as a threat to the integrity and public order of our country. As the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we demand from the administrators of our country to take concrete steps based on goodwill and sincerity, taking into account our rightful demands for the solution of our issues”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.gundemgazetesi.com
