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Batı Trakya

Our country treats its own minority as stepchildren

05.12.2024

ABTTF President: “Our country, which has been a member of the EU since 1981, calls on Albania, which is in the process of EU accession, to fully respect the rights of the Greek minority within its borders, but denies the Turkish national identity of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, all members of which are both Greek and EU citizens, and bans associations with the name ‘‘Turkish’’ and even ‘‘Western Thrace’’.”

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who granted an exclusive interview at the Venizelu station on the occasion of the opening of the Thessaloniki metro, indicated that the relations of Greece with Albania have gone through a lot of turbulence due to the Fredi Beleri case and referred to the Greek minority in Albania.

Reminding that Albania has started a process to enter the European Union (EU), Mitsotakis noted that the only condition for Greece to support Albania in its endeavours on this long road is that Albania should fully respect the rights of the Greek national minority in the country and solve its issues once and for all.

‘‘As Prime Minister Mitsotakis has brought up once again, it is normal and understandable that our country, as the motherland of the Greek minority in Albania, respects its rights and wants its issues to be resolved. However, at this point, we clearly see the double standard in our country’s view of human and minority rights. Our country, which has been a member of the EU since 1981, calls on Albania, which is in the process of EU accession, to fully respect the rights of the Greek minority within its borders, but denies the Turkish national identity of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, all members of which are both Greek and EU citizens, and bans associations with the name ‘‘Turkish’’ and even ‘‘Western Thrace’’. Our country, which has not executed the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights regarding our three associations for more than 16 years, systematically violates and disregards the rule of law, one of the most fundamental values of the EU. Moreover, the rulers of our country stand up and try to give lessons to Albania without looking at our country’s bad record in the field of human and minority rights! If our country wants to set an example for other countries, it must first fully and completely fulfil the principles of the rule of law and democracy itself’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).

*Image: www.anadoluimages.com

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