The Problems of the Minority are on the agenda of the OSCE Civil Society Forum

On 2-3 December 2008, OSCE Civil Society Forum was held in the Helsinki capital hosted by the Chairmanship of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), in Finland. The OSCE Civil Society Forum, which is organized by the Finnish Committee for European Security (STETE) and its Finnish NGO partners, was connected to the 16th OSCE Ministerial Council. The Forum concentrated on the OSCE’s human dimension issues and gave the participating civil society actors a possibility to carry their recommendations for the high-level discussions of the Ministerial Council. The Working Group Sessions went deeper into these questions concentrating on the specific themes of human rights, human trafficking, and civil society and conflict resolution.

The recommendation prepared by the STETE and the representatives of NGOs submitted to the delegates of the 16th Ministerial Council. Altough it was a non-official document, it is important that the recommendations reflected the opinions of NGOs and that it was carried out an intergovernmental level. The Forum, which gathered human rights defenders, activists, journalists and representatives of NGOs together, reclaimed that security should be indivisible and that human rights were a part of the security concept.

The OSCE Ministerial Council was asked to address issues with regard to the Greece‘s OSCE Chairmanship

On behalf of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority, Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe(ABTTF) and Western Thrace Minority Graduates Association(BTAYTD) participated in the Forum. A member of International Affairs and Lobby Group, Melek Kırmacı from ABTTF and a member of BTAYTD Adv. Sinan Kavaz participated in the Human Rights working group moderated by Ambassador for Human Rights and Democracy in Finland Kari Kahiluoto which addressed the issues of minority rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, fight against hate crimes, human rights defenders such as activists, critical journalists and opposition politicians, and they shared their knowledge and experiences about the problems of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority living in Greece.

In the human rights recommendations prepared by STETE and strengthened by the participations of representatives of NGOs, it was stated that sixty years after the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there were still many areas in which participating States needed to focus on and renew their efforts to live up to the principles outlined therein.

The representative of ABTTF, Melek Kırmacı contributed to the draft human rights recommendations and demanded together with other representatives of NGOs that the OSCE and its participating States, in their discussion of Human Dimension issues, should spend a greater proportion of their time focusing on fundamental freedoms.

Other important contribution to the draft recommendations on the issues which are important to the Western Thrace Turkish Minority had been the demand that the OSCE and its participating States should address issues related to the upcoming Greek chairmanship. The representative of BTAYTD Sinan Kavaz requested that Greece should recognize the existence of the Turkish ethnic and linguistic minority. And it was declared that Greece should ensure that freedom of association and assembly is guaranteed, respect religious beliefs and traditions of the Muslim Turks in western Thrace and in Greece in general, avoid ill-treatment of immigrants while in police or other official custody.

With regard to the issue of education, Melek Kırmacı and other representatives of some NGOs contributed to the draft recommendations that the OSCE and its participating States should strongly support human rights education and minority education. And, it is declared that education plays a crucial role in improving the situation of minorities. Human rights education empowers individuals to acquire knowledge, understanding and experience about their rights and possibilities. Besides it is stated that Often existing law mechanisms are not used effectively because of the lack of awareness and capacity caused by segregation and discrimination in access to education, and, that education should also target the majority, providing a lucid and transparent understanding of the spiritual or cultural background for religious or ethnic specific behaviour, aiming to prevent future intolerance by removal of ignorance as the base of xenophobia.

Expressing his opinions on the NGO Forum, the President of ABTTF Halit Habipoğlu said, “The OSCE Civil Society Forum held in Helsinki is important in the sense that it gathered representatives of many NGOs from the OSCE area. Western Thrace Turkish Minority should take the advantage of Greece’s OSCE Chairmanship with a comprehensive and multi-faceted work programme. ABTTF will continue to bring the problems of the Minority up to the international level, so that it does continue to be the voice of the Minority“.