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Western Thrace Turkish delegation attended 2021’s first OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting

10.03.2021

During the meeting which was held online, the Western Thrace Turkish delegation composed of the representatives of ABTTF, WTMUGA and FEP Party indicated through various examples the discrimination and intolerance against the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the media.

The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (WTMUGA) and Friendship, Equality and Peace (FEP) Party, representing the Turkish community in Western Thrace attended the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) entitled “Media Freedom and Gender Equality” which was held on 8-9 March 2021 online due to the new type coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. 

Deniz Servantie and Nihan Ayan from ABTTF, Dr. Pervin Hayrullah representing WTMUGA and General Coordinator Fatih Hüseyinoğlu representing FEP Party attended jointly the meeting which was organised in cooperation between the Swedish OSCE Chairpersonship, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Over 370 people registered to the meeting where OSCE participating States and representatives of civil society organisations, international organisations and national human rights organisations also joined. In the meeting which started with the opening remarks of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ann Lindde, OSCE/ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci and OSCE Media Freedom Representative Teresa Ribeiro, the importance of a free media and to ensure gender equality was discussed.

During the first session which was held on 8 March and where gender equality and freedom of speech was discussed, FEP Party indicated that the women belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace are prone to more discrimination in comparison with women who are part of the majority in Greece. Explaining that Western Thrace Turkish women are fighting for the recognition of their rights and identities, the FEP Party stated that the Greek authorities have not allowed the establishment of a women's association in Western Thrace with the word “Turkish” in its name since 2001.

During the second session which was held on 9 March and where the role of the media in the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda was discussed, ABTTF said that the Turkish community in Western Thrace is continuing to be the target of hate speech in the mainstream Greek media. Reminding that in December 2020, the donation of oxygen concentrators to the Xanthi State Hospital by businesspeople from the Turkish community in Western Thrace was criticised to an extent ranging to insults, ABTTF called on Greece to strengthen the existing mechanisms that define hate speech which may lead to hate crimes in the media, including online and social media platforms.

Intervening in the same session, WTMUGA indicated that whilst a commission regarding the development of the Western Thrace region had been established within the realm of the Greek Parliament in 2020, hate speech and even hate crimes targeting the Turkish community in Western Thrace have steadily increased. WTMUGA requested from Greece to recognise the ethnic Turkish identity of the Turkish community in Western Thrace with the aim of preventing conflict and hate based attacks.

Using its right of reply in both sessions, Greece repeated the Greek state’s official position regarding the Turkish community in Western Thrace, adding that Greece is only recognising a “Muslim minority” in Western Thrace and alleging that they are providing opportunities to the minority to ensure its access to media.


 

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