ABTTF attended 7th Annual Fundamental Rights Platform Meeting

Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) attended 7. Annual Fundamental Rights Platform meeting on 10-11 April 2014 held in Vienna. Established by European Fundamental Rights Agency as a means of cooperation with civil society, Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP), of which ABTTF is a member, has this year discussed “Future fundamental rights priorities in the area of freedom, security and justice – The contribution of civil society”. Dr. Sebahattin Abdurrahman, ABTTF Board member in charge of foreign affairs, participated in the annual FRP meeting.

Dr. Sebahattin Abdurrahman attended the meeting held on 10 April 2014 regarding the activities of the Fundamental Rights Agency and institutions to be addressed in case of breaches in fundamental rights. The webpage, which is expected to be operational in 2014, will provide guidelines on national authorities to be addressed in case fundamental rights violations. Within the course of event, Dr. Abdurrahman attended meeting on EU minorities and discrimination survey (EU MIDIS II) to be carried out between 2014 and 2016. Dr. Sebahattin Abdurrahman asked the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace to be included in the survey, the first version of which (EU MIDIS I) did not cover the Minority.

Recommendations on future priorities in terms of fundamental rights were on the agenda of the meeting

At his keynote address, FRA Director Morten Kjaerum stressed threats to rule of law and social and economic rights were still present and they needed to be tackled. Having underlined especially in follow up with the 11 September terrorist attacks two main approaches on the basis of security and human rights were generated, Mr. Kjaerum pointed out that the two concepts should not be considered in opposite terms. Instead, they go hand in hand with each other. In this session, the future of the EU in terms of fundamental rights was discussed and civil society recommendations in relation to freedom, security and justice within the framework of EU strategic guidelines were shared.

On 11 April, in follow up with election of the FRP Advisory Panel, the workshop organised by FRP participants “The Floor is Yours” has taken place. Having participated first in the workshop on common practices among civil society organisations working on fight against discrimination, Dr. Sebahattin Abdurrahman secondly took part in workshop where tools on cooperation of public officials and local authorities with civil society organisations. Lastly, Dr. Sebahattin Abdurrahman attended workshop on participation of civil society organisations in political decision making mechanism co-organised by Council of Europe and international NGOs.