ABTTF President: “The Turkish community in Western Thrace in our region is a community based on agriculture, but due to the structural issues in our region, especially after the financial and financial crisis, migration has increased considerably. For this reason, we think that employment should be increased by enhancing production in our region.”
The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) initiated a programme between Turkish business people and cooperative representatives operating in the agriculture and food sector in Western Thrace and Turkish supermarket chains in Berlin in order to explore opportunities for the economic development of Western Thrace and job creation in Western Thrace and thus gathered its officials in Berlin.
Erol Ahmet, owner of MAX Dairy Products Company from Western Thrace, Ersin Mehmet, owner of NEDİM Patisserie, Okan Haliloğlu, owner of OKAL Food Company and Erdi Şerif, President of the Thrace Agricultural Cooperative attended the program held on 23-25 April 2023. At the meeting hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in Berlin on Monday, 24 April 2023, the Western Thrace Turkish delegation met with the officials of AC Eurogida GmbH and Bolu Lebensmittelhandels GmbH, Turkish chain markets operating in Berlin.
In his opening speech at the meeting in Berlin, Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to Berlin, Ahmet Başar Şen greeted all the participants and underscored the following: “The economic activities of the German Turkish community have the potential to contribute to the welfare of our kinsmen in Western Thrace and the region they live in. We must work together to achieve this goal’’. In his opening speech, ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu explained that with this initiative led by ABTTF, they want to stop the migration of young people from our region by increasing production and employment in Western Thrace.
Within the scope of the programme, ABTTF made a presentation with respect to the agricultural products grown in Western Thrace. Later, representatives of the Western Thrace Turkish food companies and agricultural cooperatives in the delegation and representatives of the Turkish supermarket chains in Berlin introduced their companies and activities.
After the meeting at the embassy, the Western Thrace Turkish delegation visited Bolu Lebensmittelhandels GmbH in Berlin and met with its owner, Mehmet Şükrü Kazancıoğlu, and learned about the activities of the company.
On the evening of Monday, 24 April, the Western Thrace Turkish delegation had a private meeting with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye Yasin Ekrem Serim, who was in Berlin for the Eid celebration at the Berlin Embassy and the celebration ceremony held at the occasion of the 23 April National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, which coincided with the same date, and attended the Eid ceremony at the embassy.
President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) Halit Habip Oğlu made the following statement: ‘‘The Eastern Macedonia and Thrace State, where Western Thrace is located, is the least economically developed region of Greece and one of the regions with the highest unemployment rate. The Turkish community in Western Thrace in our region is a community based on agriculture. Due to the structural issues in our region, migration has increased considerably, especially after the financial and economic crisis. For this reason, we think that employment in our region should be increased by enhancing production. In order to explore the possibilities in this regard, we made a visit to South Tyrol in 2016 with the participation of Turkish mayors belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace and examined the regional and rural development model of that region. Now, we have taken an initiative to sell the food and agricultural products grown in our Western Thrace in Turkish supermarket chains in Germany. In this way, we want to contribute to the development of our region and our community and to slow down and stop the outward migration in the long run which is a result of the lack of job opportunities in the region’’.
