ABTTF President: “If the minority referred in the Lausanne Treaty is a Muslim minority as the state claims, and consists of Turkish, Pomak and Roma elements, why do only Turks become targets when they say they are Turkish?”
The Turkish community in Western Thrace was discussed in the broadcast entitled “Minority Between East-West” which was shown in the “Special Missions” programme on the Greek state television ERT 1 on 15 March 2021. Dr. Hüseyin Baltacı, President of the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (WTMUGA), and Çiğdem Asafoğlu, Chair of the Friendship, Equality and Peace (FEP) Party, spoke at the broadcast which included interviews from Rodopi and Xanthi.
Following the programme broadcasted on ERT 1, representatives of the Turkish community in Western Thrace again became targets in the local, regional and national press. Regarding the news in the Greek press, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks (ABTTF) Halit Habip Oğlu made the following statement: “While it is positive that the state television ERT 1 features representatives of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in a programme about the Minority, it is not difficult to see state propaganda when we see the whole programme. When we look at the Greek media articles following the programme, we see that persons representing the Turkish community in Western Thrace have been attacked. Unfortunately, it is not the first time, and it won’t be the last! Based on our country’s reference to the Lausanne Peace Treaty, I would like to ask: ‘If the minority referred in the Lausanne Treaty is a Muslim minority as the state claims, and consists of Turkish, Pomak and Roma elements, why do only Turks become targets when they say they are Turkish?’ This is a great injustice! There are associations in the region with the words ‘Pomak’ and ‘Roma’ in their names, they are officially registered. However, the oldest association in the region, the Xanthi Turkish Union, was closed due to the word ‘Turkish’ in its name, and our newly established associations have not been registered. Why? The rulers of our country should first ask this question to themselves! As for the media outlets that are targeting Western Thrace Turks fuelled by state propaganda, we call on them to stop picking on our representatives that reveal their ethnic identity as being ‘Turkish’ as the others who express their ethnic identities!”
