ABTTF Organized an International Panel Discussion in the European Parliament

On 17April 2008 Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) organized an international panel discussion which was held in the European Parliament on “Ignored Minorities of Greece: Western Thrace Turks and Macedonians”. Before the panel discussion a press conference was held in the European Parliament and Halit Habipoglu, the President of the ABTTF; Hans Heinrich Hansen, the President of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), Nelly Maes, the President of the European Free Alliance (EFA), Mikel Irujo Amazega, a member of the Greens/EFA, and Petros Kazias, a member of the Central Council of EFA-Rainbow replied the questions of 48 members of Greek and Turkish press.

It is stated in the press conference that Greece ignores the existence and the rights of the minorities of ethnic Macedonian and Turks living in the country and that Greek policy does not comply with Euro-pean norms and values. Nelly Maes indicated that ethnic minorities are not recognized therefore ethnic minorities with different languages and religions have no right to express their opinions in a democratic environment. And, Maes stated that Greece violates the rules of the Union by violating human rights of ethnic minorities in Greece. Besides, Maes stated that Greece is not open for dialogue although EFA wants to establish communication with the state.

Amazega, a member of the Greens/EFA, stated that minorities should be respected in accordance with international treaties and reminded that Greece has not signed the Framework Convention for Protection of National Minorities and the Minority Languages Charter and European Charter for Regional or Mi-nority Languages. Amazega stated that Greece has responsibilities towards the minorities living within its borders but Greece does not behave in way that an EU member country must have.

Hansen, the President of FUEN, stressed that the minority associations belonging to the ethnic Mace-donians and Turks are members of FUEN and stated that Greece subject these minorities to assimilation in various ways. And Hansen said, “We observed the violations of the rights of the minorities in our visit to Greece”.

Habipoğlu, “Greece accepts the Western Thrace Turkish Minority as a threat to its existence”. It rejects any proposal on dialogue between the Turkish Minority and the state. Our demand from the state is to establish a dialogue with the Minority. We do not constitute any threat rather a richness of our country. The EU is constituted on the richness of language and culture. We call upon the Greek state to establish a dialogue with the Minority and solve the problems together”. And he added, “To establish such dia-logue ABTTF has organized this international panel discussion in the European Parliament with the help of EFA”. Then he declared that the fact that the most of the press members are from Greece shows that dialogue has been established between the Greek State and the Minority”. And Habipoğlu reminded the ECHR decision on 27 March 2008 which indicted Greece for the violation of the right to assembly and association of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority and added that ABTTF hopes the Greek state to es-tablish a constructive dialogue with the minorities living the country after the ECHR decision and international panel discussion.

A Historical Success in the European Parliament

The panel on “Ignored Minorities in Greece: Western Thrace Turks and Macedonians” was very well at-tended and more than 120 people attended the panel discussion. The panel discussion was chaired by Hans Heinrich Hansen, the President of FUEN. After the opening speeches from Nelly Maes, the President of the European Free Alliance - European Political Party, Halit Habipoğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) and Petros Kazias, a member of the Central Council of EFA-Rainbow the following presentations were made.

Kinga Gal, MEP, the Vice Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights made the first presenta-tion called “Minorities in the Context of the Balkans”. Gal stated that the pace of improvements in the rights of the minorities is very slow at national levels and added that Greece has made improvements on the rights of the minorities since 1993 but still lacks some other improvements. Then, Asst. Prof. Dr. Halim Cavuşoglu made a speech on the Western Thrace Turkish Minority and the Victims of Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code. Cavusoğlu stated that it is a necessity of being a democratic state that Western Thrace Turks who were arbitrarily deprived of their nationalities must be given back. Petros Kazias of the European Free Alliance – Rainbow made a presentation on the ethnic Macedonian minor-ity of Greece. Katzias, in his presentation “Macedonian Minority in Greece” stated that there is an ethnic and linguistic Macedonian minority therefore Greece should end its official exclusion policy and estab-lish a dialog with the representatives of minority. A statement from Lazslo Tokes MEP was read out by his assistant Helen Struff in which he offered to mediate between representatives of the two minority groups and the Greek government. Then Panayote Dimitras, the Spokesperson of the Greek Helsinki Monitor, made a presentation on “Tolerance of Intolerance towards Minorities in Greece” and said that the existence of minority is a matter of fact. Dimitras, “The existence of the Turkish Minority is denied in Greece. The Greek state should reassess its position on the minorities. The Greek democracy is so rigid and the one who respects the minorities at the lowest level”.

The final presentation “Standards of Council of Europe and Minorities in Greece” was made by Boriss Cilevics, a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Cilevics stated that Greece, despite refusal to ratify the instruments of the Council of Europe on minority protection, still has certain obligations with regard to minority rights under Council of Europe obligations and commitments. And Cilevics expressed the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) which monitors the fulfillment obligations wrote that minority groups still encounter difficulties, the Macedonians and Turks. Then he concluded that the refusal to ratify the key instruments relevant to minority rights does not exempt a Council of Europe member state from a number of obligations relevant to minority protec-tion.

The presentations were followed by an interesting interactive discussion in which a range of views were expressed in a question-and-answer session. ABTTF regrets that some groups wanted to use the panel discussion for their own political purposes.

The closing remarks of the international panel discussion were made by Mikel Irujo Amezaga MEP of the Greens/EFA Group. Amazega stated the majority and the minority in Greece must respect each other and tolerance in this mutual respect is of vital importance. And he concluded that the aim of this interna-tional panel discussion is to establish a constructive dialogue between the majority and the minority.

Habipoğlu, the President of ABTTF, states that the international panel discussion on “Ignored Minorities in Greece: Western Thrace Turks and Macedonians” has attained its objective. And he adds that it is a success for ABTTF that such discussion was held in the European Parliament. He concludes that ABTTF which is founded on a strong basis would like to thank to Rainbow which shares the same desti-ny with the Western Thrace Turkish Minority and EFA and FUEN outside the borders of Greece for the international panel discussion held in the European Parliament.