Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) and Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) Vice President Nabi Ibraimtzik participated in the working visit organised by FUEN, of which ABTTF is a full member, to Berlin, the capital of Germany, on 17-18 September 2025.
The FUEN delegation, consisting of FUEN Vice Presidents Olivia Schubert, Bernard Gaida and Nabi Ibraimtzik, and FUEN Secretary General Eva Penzes, met with German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) members Klaus-Peter Willsch (CDU/CSU), Kathrin Michel (SPD), Christoph de Vries (CDU/CSU), Knut Abraham (CDU/CSU) and Stefan Seidler (SSW), as well as Maylis Roßberg, President of the European Free Alliance Youth (EFAY).
During the meetings, which covered FUEN’s activities, the current situation of European minorities and European minority policy, the Minority Safepack Initiative (MSPI), geo-blocking of internet content, the financing of FUEN’s projects and opportunities for closer cooperation between FUEN and the Bundestag were discussed.
ABTTF and FUEN Vice President Nabi Ibraimtzik informed Bundestag members about the current issues faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace and the discrimination and rights violations they are subjected to within the context of the European minorities. Emphasising that the Turkish ethnic identity of the Turkish community in Western Thrace is denied by Greece, Ibraimtzik noted that associations bearing the word ‘‘Turkish’’ are not permitted in the country and that the Turkish community is portrayed as a “threat” and ‘‘danger’’ in the country’s political circles and mainstream media. Ibraimtzik also raised the issues faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of education, stating that autonomous and private Turkish primary schools in the Western Thrace region had been closed by the Greek authorities on grounds of lack of sufficient number of pupils, in violation of the Turkish community’s educational autonomy.
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