Young ABTTF, the youth organisation of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), participated in the seminar titled ‘Story of My Life’ organised by the Youth of European Nationalities (YEN) in Strasbourg, France on 1-5 September 2021 with the contributions of the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. Nihan Ayan of Young ABTTF attended the seminar.
On the first day of the seminar, which was attended by Hungarians in Slovakia, Slovenians in Italy, Romansh in Switzerland and Alsatians in Lorraine, and Western Thrace Turks in Greece, the Strasbourg European Youth Centre gave a keynote address to representatives of minority youth organisations from many different countries in Europe.
Following the speech, the participants were divided into groups with instructors from Poland and the United States for workshops titled ‘My Identity’, ‘Stories About My Minority’. In the seminar, which focused on issues such as the process of defining the identity of minorities, narrative identity, stereotypes and discrimination, the participants gave interviews about their identity within the scope of identity identification and education.
At the Minorities Market held after the workshops, the participants delivered presentations introducing the minorities and the organisation to which they belonged. Nihan Ayan of Young ABTTF introduced the Turkish community in Western Thrace and ABTTF and informed the other participants about the problems experienced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
On the second day of the seminar, the participants examined basic theories on critical thinking, and as they were divided into different groups, they examined media articles about their minorities, and carried out studies that recorded the accuracy of the news.
On the last day of the seminar and at during the ‘Stereotypes and Discrimination’ workshop, Nihan Ayan expressed the unjust treatment of the Turkish community in Western Thrace as a result of stereotypes and prejudices against the Turkish community in Western Thrace that are persisting for many years.
