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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece Dendias once again denied the ethnic Turkish identity of the Turkish community in Western Thrace

16.04.2021

ABTTF President: “Our country, which claims to be the cradle of democracy, disregards the most basic human rights by forbidding us to define ourselves as ‘Turks’. The policy of denial of our identity by the rulers of our country will never change the fact that we are Turks.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece Nikos Dendias met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Ankara on 15 April 2021. Earlier, the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan welcomed Dendias at the Presidential Complex. A joint press conference was held after the meeting between Dendias and Çavuşoğlu.

Çavuşoğlu stated that they made the problems experienced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace clear during the bilateral talks, noting that Turkey has implemented many positive practices in dialogue on the problems of the Turkish citizens of Greek origin and that they expect the same constructive approach for Western Thrace Turks.

Dendias stated that the minority in (Western) Thrace is a Muslim Minority, and that this is the official view of the Greek state and added that provocative actions on these issues have damaged the relations.

“During his visit to Ankara, our country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dendias reiterated his past statements and again denied the ethnic Turkish identity of the Turkish community in Western Thrace. Dendias stated that this is the official opinion of the Greek state and thus affirmed that our country does not recognise the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding our three associations. Our country, which claims to be the cradle of democracy, disregards the most basic human rights by forbidding us to define ourselves as ‘Turks’. The policy of denial of our identity by the rulers of our country will never change the fact that we are Turks. As Western Thrace Turks, we would like to thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs of our motherland Çavuşoğlu for supporting us by stating that it is not correct for our country to be uncomfortable with us calling ourselves Turks”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).