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Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu visited Western Thrace

31.05.2021

ABTTF President: “As stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of our motherland, we as Western Thrace Turks want our rights and freedoms not to be politically instrumentalised in our country and we want to solve our problems in dialogue with the official authorities of our country.”

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, the motherland of Western Thrace Turks, visited Western Thrace on 30 May 2021 before his official talks in Athens. Çavuşoğlu met with representatives of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Komotini.

Çavuşoğlu was greeted at Alexandroupolis Airport by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Sedat Önal, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Athens Burak Özgergin and Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Komotini Murat Ömeroğlu, and first met with the Mufti of Rhodope and Chairman of the Consultative Committee of Turkish Minority of Western Thrace (BTTADK) İbrahim Şerif and Mufti of Xanthi Ahmet Mete.

Çavuşoğlu and his delegation later visited Celal Bayar Minority Secondary and High School of the Turkish community in Western Thrace. In the speech he made there, Çavuşoğlu said the following: “In particular, it is important to open kindergartens that provide bilingual education. There is no such problem in Turkey, but it is with regret that we see that it is not allowed here. We do not accept that our Turkish offspring here are moving away from their mother tongue and culture. That’s why we’re going to support your efforts to open kindergartens”. Çavuşoğlu noted that it is important for Western Thrace Turks to have a voice in the management of minority schools and added: “In the end, it is not easy, but we are trying to defend your rights both here and before international organisations within the framework of international law”.

Following the school visit, Çavuşoğlu met with BTTADK members for lunch and conveyed the greetings of President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his speech at the lunch.

After the lunch, he visited the tomb of the late Dr. Sadık Ahmet, leader of the Western Thrace Turks, founder and first leader of the Friendship, Equality and Peace (FEP) Party, in Komotini. Çavuşoğlu laid a wreath at the tomb of Dr. Sadık Ahmet and planted a sycamore seedling in the garden where the tomb is located.

Later, Çavuşoğlu told reporters that he had met with members of BTTADK and listened to the issues of the minority. Çavuşoğlu indicated the following: “Western Thrace Turks know that we will never leave them alone, and they are sure that we will not leave them after this, and that is the important thing. Hopefully we will continue to do our best”.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his delegation travelled from Komotini to Athens for official talks after the visit in Western Thrace.

“Our motherland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s visit to Western Thrace before his visit to Athens made us very happy and showed once again that our motherland has always been with us in our rightful struggle and supports us. Just as the Minister of Foreign Affairs indicated during his visit and with a clear expression regarding our issues, as Western Thrace Turks, we want our rights and freedoms not to be politically instrumentalised in our country and we want to solve our problems in dialogue with the official authorities of our country. We call on our country to end the policy of denial of our Turkish identity and to take example of the positive measures with respect to the rights of the Greek Orthodox minority in our motherland”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).

 

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