ABTTF President: “Just as our country recognised us as ‘Turks’ from 1923 to 1983, we demand that it recognises us in the same way as ‘Turks’ and we are struggling for it.”
The New Democracy Party (YDP) MP Evripidis Stylianidis from Rodopi once again used expressions targeting the Turkish community in Western Thrace in an interview with Christos Konstas on Politica 89.8 radio.
Referring to the recent news regarding Turkish-Greek relations, Stylianidis argued that Turkey tends to “instrumentalise” human groups and tries to do this with the Muslim minority in (Western) Thrace. Stating that the minority is composed of Greek citizens, Stylianidis added that the Turkish government is trying to turn the minority into an ethnic one and that this is unacceptable.
“MP Evripidis Stylianidis from our region once again repeated the official thesis of our country denying our Turkish identity and claimed that our homeland is using us as a tool. Just as our country recognised us as ‘Turks’ from 1923 to 1983, we demand that it recognise us in the same way as ‘Turks’ and we are struggling for it. In fact, it is our country’s rulers that use us as a tool in domestic politics. Our country is using us for its policy towards Turkey by playing with the national feelings of the society. Our associations bearing the word ‘Turk’ are banned due to this mentality of denial towards us, which dominates the state, politics and media in our country and disregards the principles of democracy and the rule of law”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.politica.gr
