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Stylianidis: “(Western) Thrace is an example of an open and democratic society model and Greece fully respects human and minority rights”

09.04.2021

ABTTF President: ”Stylianidis again denied our Turkish identity and accused us of Turkish nationalism. The fact that the FEP Party, the political party of the Turkish community, won the most votes in the EP elections in 2014 and 2019 in the Western Thrace provinces of Rodopi and Xanthi is telling a lot.”

The New Democracy Party (ND) MP from Rodopi Evripidis Stylianidis once again made misleading and untrue statements about the Turkish community in Western Thrace in an interview with journalist Pantelidis Savvidis on 8 April 2021.

Stating that (Western) Thrace is an example of an open and democratic model of society, and that the (Western) Thrace people are of many different religious and ethnic backgrounds, Stylianidis claimed that the problems are mostly caused by groups advocating Turkish nationalism and are not related to religious issues. He underscored that Greece fully respects human and minority rights and ignored the ethnic Turkish identity of the region’s minority.

“Stylianidis reads what he knows again with his latest statement. Stylianidis, who says that many people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds live in Western Thrace, does not mention Turks, who for some reason make up the majority in Rodopi province and almost half the population in Xanthi province, while listing other ethnicities. As an experienced politician, Stylianidis knows very well that the 3% electoral threshold, which also applies to independent candidates in Greece, was introduced to prevent Turks from entering the Greek Parliament and to prevent their voices from being heard in the Parliament. We would like to remind Stylianidis, who claims that there are no Turks in Western Thrace, about the success of the political party of the Turkish community which is the Friendship, Equality and Peace (FEP) Party in the European Parliament (EP) elections. The fact that the FEP Party won the most votes in the EP elections in 2014 and 2019 in the Western Thrace provinces of Rodopi and Xanthi is telling a lot”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
 

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