Halit Habip Oğlu: “We ask our country Greece to engage in direct dialogue with the Turkish community in Western Thrace and to find solutions for our problems in consultation with us.”
The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the provinces of Rhodope and Evros on 25-26 February 2020. Mitsotakis, who attended the meeting held at the Chamber of Tradesmen and Craftsmen of Rhodope on Tuesday, 25 February as part of his visit, met with the representatives of chambers of commerce, professional organizations, trade unions and agricultural organizations in the Western Thrace region. At the meeting, demands for the development of the province of Rhodope and the region were expressed.
Mitsotakis, who also briefly referred to the Turkish community in Western Thrace, said the harmonious co-existence between Christians and Muslims in Western Thrace is exemplary. Mitsotakis stated harmony and peace in the region is a very important gain at a time of increasing hate speech, and it should be protected, adding the rights of the Turkish community in Western Thrace are clearly stated in the Treaty of Lausanne and in Greek laws.
“At the occasion of his speech during a meeting in Komotini, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who refrained from defining the Turkish community in Western Thrace as ‘Turkish’, pursued the Greek state’s official policy of denying our ethnic Turkish identity. On the other hand, it has been great disappointment for us that no organizations of the Turkish community in Western Thrace were invited to this meeting where issues and demands regarding the region were expressed. The Greek government has ignored the Western Thrace Turks again, and their problems have not been considered. We ask our country Greece to engage in direct dialogue with the Turkish community in Western Thrace and to find solutions for our problems in consultation with us”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
