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WESTERN THRACE

Western Thrace Turkish delegation attended FUEN 2021 Congress

13.09.2021

The text of the resolution on the non-execution of ECtHR judgments on Western Thrace Turkish associations by Greece was adopted by the FUEN Assembly of Delegates.

The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) attended the 65th annual Congress of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) held in Trieste, Italy on 9-12 September 2021. The Congress, hosted by Italy’s Slovenian minority, was attended by ABTTF President and FUEN Vice-President Halit Habip Oğlu and Secretary General of the Friendship Equality Peace (FEP) Party Yeşim Hasan from Trieste and ABTTF Director of International Affairs Melek Kırmacı Arık and Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (WTMUGA) Member Şükriye Mehmet online.
  
Panel sessions discussed the future of Europe’s cultural and linguistic diversity and the educational models of minorities in Europe, and touched upon the situation of Italy’s Slovenian minority
 
The FUEN 2021 Congress, attended by more than 140 minority representatives from 20 different countries in Europe and moderated by writer and journalist Vida Valenčič, officially began on 9 September with the opening speech of FUEN President and Member of European Parliament (MEP) Loránt Vincze.

FUEN President and MEP Loránt Vincze, United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Dr. Fernand de Varennes, Italian Parliament Senator Tatjana Rojc and MEP François Alfonsi were present at the first panel session titled ‘the future of Europe’s cultural and linguistic diversity’.

The FUEN Prize, awarded to those who contribute to the protection of national minorities, was presented this year to UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Dr. Fernand de Varennes.

The panel sessions on Friday 10 September focused first on the educational models of minorities in Europe, and second on the situation of the Slovenian minority living in Italy, the host of this year’s Congress.
 
Draft resolutions submitted by Western Thrace Turks and Turks of Rhodes, Kos and Dodecanese Islands were adopted
 
While ABTTF President and FUEN Vice President Halit Habip Oğlu and FEP Party Secretary General Yeşim Hasan attended the meetings from Trieste, ABTTF Director of International Affairs Melek Kırmacı Arık and WTMUGA Member Şükriye Mehmet attended the FUEN Assembly of Delegates held hybridly online on Saturday 11 September.
The decision text of the resolution on the non-execution of the ECtHR judgements by Greece regarding the Bekir-Ousta and Others Group of Cases which includes the Xanthi Turkish Union, the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Rodopi Province and Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association, which violates the freedom of association of the Turkish community in Western Thrace jointly presented by ABTTF, WTMUGA and FEP Party as the Western Thrace Turkish delegation was adopted by a majority vote in the FUEN Assembly of Delegates.

The draft resolution on the issues and current situation of the Turks of Rhodes, Kos and Dodecanese Islands in Greece, presented by the Rhodes, Kos and the Dodecanese Turks Culture and Solidarity Association (ROISDER), a member of FUEN, was adopted by a majority of votes.

In the FUEN Assembly of Delegates, where amendments to the FUEN charter were also voted, the FUEN main text of the resolution on the future of autochthonous national and linguistic minorities in the European Union (EU) and that is demanding that their status be fully incorporated into the EU’s legal mechanism was adopted. 

Two new member organisations in FUEN
 
Representatives of the Tatar community in Romania known as the Democratic Union of Tatars and the Italian Union which represents the Italian community in Slovenia and Croatia whose applications for membership to FUEN were accepted have effectively become the new member organisations of FUEN during the FUEN Assembly of Delegates. 

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