FUEN celebrated its 60th foundation day

From 29 September to 2 October 2009, the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) attended the 60th jubilee congress of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) with the theme of “fundamental right to political participation”. At the congress, the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace was represented by the delegation composed of President Halit Habipoğlu, Vice-President Sami Yusuf, Secretary General Özkan Reşit and member of International Affairs Department Fatma Reşit on behalf of ABTTF and Ali Hüseyin and İrfan Çakır on behalf of the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association.

On 30 September 2009, a meeting attended by the FUEN delegates who were on a visit to the European Parliament, and by MEPs was organized. Furthermore, on the last day of the congress, on 2 October 2009, draft resolutions submitted by the FUEN delegates were discussed and sub-sequently adopted.

Issue of the Turkish Minority’s political representation was brought to the agenda

Following the presentation by Dr. Oleh Protsyk from the European Center for Minority Issues (ECMI) on the issue of political participation on the first day of the congress held in Brussels, Halit Habipoğlu, President of ABTTF, raised the problem of political participation faced by the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace during the debate.

Habipoğlu pointed out that according the new electoral law enacted in 1991 in Greece, candidates had to obtain at least 3% of the votes throughout the country in order to be elected to the Parliament, and thus the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace could not be represented by independent MPs in the Greek Parliament. After Habipoğlu, Ali Hüseyin, member of the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association, stated that the „Turkish“ ethnic identity of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace was recognized, adding that the Minority had been facing many problems in terms of recognition of its rights in the areas of education and religion where it had autonomy, and had also been facing several problems in the area of political representation.

Two resolutions for recommendation related to the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace were adopted

As the Delegation of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, ABTTF and the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association submitted two resolutions for recommendation to be adopted at the FUEN Assembly of Delegates. In the unanimously adopted text of the resolution for recommendation, ABTTF and the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association demand from the Greek Government to withdraw the 3% electoral threshold for an independent candidate, and to abolish the division of local districts into enlarged electoral districts which are now implemented in the prefectures of Rhodope and Xanthi.

On the first day of the congress, Habipoğlu also stated that it had been brought on in the Greek newspapers that soldiers serving their time in the 4th Army Corps had had to sign a document stating that they did not want to vote in the places where they had been born, but in Western Thrace. Thus, Habipoğlu expressed his concerns that the democratic electoral process might get jeopardized. As the Delegation of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, ABTTF and the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association, prepared a common text of resolu-tion for recommendation demanding the investigation of the regarding allegations, and submitted it to the FUEN Assembly of Delegates on 2 October 2009.

With regard to the issue, Halit Habipoğlu, President of ABTTF, stated that “The fact that the FUEN Congress was hold just before the early general elections on 4 October 2009 in Greece increased the importance of this Congress for the Turkish Minority of western Thrace. Therefore, representing the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, ABTTF and the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association brought the issue of political representation to the agenda. In addition, upon the allegation that soldiers serving their time in the 4th Army Corps have been had sign a document stating that they would like to vote in the region, we prepared an urgent text of resolution for recommendation related to the issue, and achieved that it was adopted by the FUEN Assembly of Delegates”.