ABTTF’s new board was elected
The 19th Ordinary General Assembly of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) took place in Gießen on 13 June 2015. The new members of the board of directors, the board of inspection and the disciplinary board have been elected during the assembly where 178 delegates from 21 member associations were present. Around 220 people attended the general as-sembly that started at 13:00 and ended at 22:00. The new board of directors will convene on 20 June 2015 for the first time where they will determine on the division of tasks within the board.
ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu: “We made a history as we succeeded in organising FUEN 2015 Congress in Western Thrace”
ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu delivered an introductory speech at the beginning of the general assembly. He declared that there had been negative developments in Greece in the fields of educa-tion and religious freedom and the minority’s autonomy had been severely damaged thanks to the latest law issued on educational affairs. Having pointed out that the SYRIZA Party had made a lot of promises before coming to power, Habip Oğlu stated that SYRIZA, who made a coalition with the radical right ANEL, hadn’t kept its promises at all. He insisted that it was impossible to convince Greece to take steps for finding solutions to minority’s problems. On the other hand, Habip Oğlu mentioned about the FUEN 2015 Congress that took place in May 2015 in Western Thrace saying that the congress co-organised by ABTTF, The Western Thrace Minority University Graduates As-sociation (WTMUGA) and Friendship, Equality, Peace (FEP) Party was a milestone for the Turkish Minority. Thanks to this congress, other European minorities had the chance to familiarise with the problems of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace and later on made comments to their own press. He also informed that the congress was tried to be blocked by Golden Dawn Party who is-sued a written question in the Greek Parliament for preventing the congress. Lastly, Habip Oğlu highlighted that the Federation was determined to work harder and had an office in Brussels along with maintaining strong partnerships with NGOs on international level.
ABTTF’s first President Cafer Alioğlu: “Our autonomy in education and religion is under serious threat”
ABTTF’s first President Cafer Alioğlu made a greeting speech where he stated that the Turkish Mi-nority of Western Thrace had autonomy according to the Treaty of Lausanne, but was unable today to enjoy its full rights. Alioğlu said that there had been serious improvements on citizenship rights in their fight for democratic rights and freedoms thanks greatly to the efforts of Dr Sadık Ahmet who is the leader of Western Thrace Turks. He insisted that the most important thing in this struggle was to assure unity and solidarity. Having participated to the FUEN Congress as a guest, Alioğlu de-clared that it was a milestone to host such a big event in Western Thrace.
The first president of ABTTF Cafer Alioğlu was unanimously elected as the chair of the presidency at the general assembly while Bertan Hüseyin and Harun İbrahimcik were elected for the Presidency secretariat. Concerning the election board, ABTTF Central Office Director K. Engin Soyyılmaz, ABTTF Brussels Officer Yakup Uzun and ABTTF Secretary Demet Öcal were elected following the proposal of these names by the ABTTF Board and the unanimous votes of the delegates.
The agenda of the general assembly started to be discussed following one minute’s silence and con-tinued with the presentation of ABTTF 18. Term Activity Report done by ABTTF 18. Term Secretary General Gökhan Kocaveli, ABTTF 18. Term Inspection Report presented by ABTTF 18. Term Chair of the Board of Inspection Erdoğan Hocaoğlu and ABTTF 18. Term Financial Report presented by ABTTF 18. Term Treasurer İsmail Rüşüt. ABTTF 18. Term Board of Directors was exculpated by the majority of the votes following the presentation of reports and responses to the questions.
2 members of ABTTF 18. Term Board of Directors, M. Rıdvan Hacıbedel and Dr. Sebahattin Ab-durrahman had called upon the disciplinary board to investigate if all member associations had registered as a non-profit organisation and thus had an institutional register number. As the board finished its investigation, it was realised that the Association of the Western Thrace Turks UK had no court register, thus no institutional register number in the UK. Within the framework of the German Law of Associations, the Association of the Western Thrace Turks UK couldn’t be repre-sented at the general assembly as its membership was frozen until it gets officially registered. There was a serious discussion with the ABTTF Disciplinary Board members when this issue was raised by M. Rıdvan Hacıbedel and Dr. Sebahattin Abdurrahman who are the members of ABTTF 18. Term Board of Directors and former chairs of the UK Association.
ABTTF elected the members of the 19. Term Board of Directors, Board of Inspection and Disciplinary Board
Following the exculpation of the ABTTF 18. Term Board of Directors, the 20 candidates for the 19. Term Board of Directors introduced themselves and their projects. The voting was done afterwards and results were announced as follows:
1. Mesut Küçük Hasan 109
2. İbrahim Yusuf Hüseyin 105
3. Halit Habip Oğlu 93
4. Aydın Ahmet 92
5. Bülent Ekrem 83
6. Sami Yusuf 83
7. Sebahattin Mümin 81
8. Mustafa Kasap 80
9. Hasan Hasanoğlu 79
10. İsmail Rüşüt 78
11. Mehmet Hüseyin 77
12. Nazmi Kara Mustafa 76
13. Raif Bozacı 76
14. Nabi İbrahimcik 75
15. Özkan Reşit 64
16. Erol Amet 62
17. Fatih Ali 54
18. Güngör Molla 54
19. Hüseyin Ormancı 54
20. Bülent Apturahim Oğlu 44
The new members elected unanimously at the general assembly for the Board of Inspection and Disciplinary Board are as follows:
Board of Inspection:
1. Halit Haşim
2. İsmail Veiz
3. Zeynep Adem
Disciplinary Board:
1. Erol Haşim
2. Halit Faik Oğlu
3. İsmail Apti Oğlu
