Halit Habip Oğlu: ‘We, Turks were ignored during the visit of the President!’
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou paid an official visit to Western Thrace on 28-30 May. Sakellaropoulou which began her visit on Thursday 28 May in Xanthi, went to Komotini on Friday and visited her hometown Stavroupoli (Yeniköy) on Saturday. Within her 3-day programme that she had in Western Thrace, the President began her visit by leaving a wreath at city monuments in Xanthi and Komotini and she came together with representatives from local administration, military, church, academia, business world and local public.
However, although the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (WTMUGA) had requested it and that the School Committee of Xanthi Minority Secondary and High School had invited the President to the school in an open letter, the President did not meet with associations belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace, civil society representatives or members of the Turkish community.
Having met with a delegation composed of political representatives at local, regional and national level and military and security forces at Çanaklio Mansion in Komotini, President Sakellaropoulou indicated in her speech that she did not attended the 100th anniversary of the participation of Western Thrace to Greece due to the pandemic. She said that following the Convention Concerning Population Exchange of 1923, immigrants coming from Anatolia (which she described as Eastern Thrace and Asia Minor) had settled in the region and that they have a special role as the guards of the borders for the population there.
Indicating that Thrace is one of the less developed regions in Europe and Greece, the President explained that trade and industry in the region had regressed seriously as a result of chronic problems and economic crisis. Sakellaropoulou also said that thanks to its geographic location and diversity of different religions, Thrace needs to develop welfare as a region that is at the land and sea crossroads.
Concerning the visit of the Greek President, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) Halit Habip Oğlu said, ‘We, Turks were again ignored during the visit of the President! Just as during the last visit to our region by Prime Minister Mitsotakis, our President ignored the constituent element of this region that are our us, Turks. Indeed, when we look from the demographic perspective, we, as Turks constitute the majority in Rhodope but regardless of this, our President ignored us! In fact, minorities living in border regions are elements which come to the front with their bridge building roles. Because of this, in another EU country Germany, when President Steinmeier came to office, he first visited the border region with Denmark and met with representatives from the Danish and Frisian minorities although they are numerically small, and he assured them that the state would guarantee the rights that they have. However, when its about Turks in Greece, the German example is at a point which we cannot even dream of. Lest aside giving guarantee, our country’s President ignores our existence. Moreover, if we look at her speech in Komotini, she indicated that with the population exchange, although it is forbidden, those who were settled in the region from Turkish Thrace and Anatolia had a special role as securing the border region. Unfortunately, the President is provoking with such a statement. Furthermore, our President who said that there is unity with different religions in Thrace should know this, in Europe there are different religions living together in many different places, while highlighting this beautiful example, it is quite dangerous to make statements that fuel division and segregation on ethnic basis and also contrary to the basic principles and values of democracy. Whereas, our country prides itself as being the cradle of democracy in every occasion. It’s a shame, President! With this visit, you could have taken a bold step in destroying the perception of threat and prejudices against Western Thrace Turks by taking a truly embracing stance, but unfortunately you did not! A historic opportunity thus was lost!’
