ABTTF Presidium: ‘We promise to continue to maintain the spirit of struggle ignited on 29 January, and we guarantee that we will strive in all areas to ensure the return of the rights of the Turkish community in Western Thrace arising from the treaties and to ensure the conditions necessary for our community to take an equal, free and active place in all areas of public life with increasing determination and strength without forgetting our founding goal’.
The 21st Period Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) Presidium convened specially for the 29th January Social Solidarity and National Resistance Day.
ABTTF Presidium, which met at ABTTF Headquarters and specially convened for the 29 January Social Solidarity and National Resistance, gathered to discuss the issues on the agenda and to decide on the steps to be taken in the first six months of 2022, discussed the events of 29 January 1988 and 1990 and the social resistance that marked a turning point in the struggle for rights and freedoms of the Turkish community in Western Thrace on this day.
ABTTF Presidium unanimously adopted the following declaration on 29 January Social Solidarity and National Resistance Day:
‘With the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, the Turkish community in Western Thrace, which was left to Greece, was rendered autonomous in the field of education and religion. Due to the numerous interventions and pressures of the state, on 29 January 1988 and 1990, the Western Thrace Turks took to the streets shouting, ‘We are Turks!’ and bravely showed their presence by not bowing to state pressure. The events of 29 January 1988 and 1990 marked a turning point in the history of the Turkish community in Western Thrace and became known as ‘Social Solidarity and National Resistance Day’.
The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) was established on 28 February 1988, immediately after the events of 29 January 1988, with the aim of making the voice of the Turkish community in Western Thrace heard at the international level.
As a prominent issue and demanding an immediate solution, we want a Turkish community in Western Thrace that has the right to establish and manage its own schools according to the Lausanne Peace Treaty and to have an education which is modern and has quality. Our primary schools are closed due to the small number of students, and the rapid decline in the number of our primary schools in the last 10 years has become a tool of systematic discrimination against our community. Ignoring the demands of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, state and representative governments are not being constructive and do not take any steps to solve enduring issues under any circumstances.
In face of approach based on denial and that is closed to dialogue by the state and its representative governments, the Turkish community in Western Thrace continues to maintain its determined and decisive stance against the unequal and discriminatory policies at the occasion of 29 January Social Solidarity and National Resistance Day.
As the 21st Period ABTTF Presidium, we demand the return of all rights of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, defined and protected by the Lausanne Peace Treaty, on the 34th anniversary of the National Day of Resistance.
As the ABTTF Presidium, we promise to continue to maintain the spirit of struggle ignited on 29 January, and we guarantee that we will strive in all areas to ensure the return of the rights of the Turkish community in Western Thrace arising from the treaties and to ensure the conditions necessary for our community to take an equal, free and active place in all areas of public life with increasing determination and strength without forgetting our founding goal’.
