ABTTF President: “While our country has hijacked our educational autonomy with unilateral policies and practices over the years, closed our primary schools one by one every year on grounds of lack of students and ignored our request for bilingual minority kindergartens, our motherland has opened schools even for only four students in Imbros (Gökçeada) at the request of the Greek Orthodox minority. Currently, education is provided in kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools belonging to the Greek Orthodox minority in Imbros (Gökçeada). Now I want to ask: is it our country or our motherland that must comply with its obligations arising from the Treaty of Lausanne and international conventions?”
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended the Orthodox Christmas event organised by the Association of the Inhabitants of Gökçeada (Imbros) on 16 January 2022. Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias also sent a message to the event.
In her greeting speech at the event, President Sakellaropoulou expressed hope that the Turkish authorities would change their attitudes towards Turkey’s Greek Orthodox minority and implement the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne on the non-Muslim minorities without exception in accordance with international conventions on the protection of human rights. Sakellaropoulou added that Greece will always support efforts to strengthen Hellenism in Imbros (Gökçeada) and address the injustices it has suffered over time.
In his speech, Prime Minister Mitsotakis indicated that the Greek government will always stand by the Greeks of Imbros (Gökçeada) and urged Turkey to respect the rights of the country’s Greek Orthodox minority. Stating that they will press Turkey to respect what it has signed on all international platforms, Mitsotakis said that they will constantly remind Ankara of its official commitments because any discrimination against the Greeks of Imbros (Gökçeada) who are Turkish citizens is a violation not only of the Treaty of Lausanne but also of international conventions on the protection of human rights.
In his message, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dendias urged Turkey to fully implement the Treaty of Lausanne Treaty and respect the rights of the Greek Orthodox minority in Imbros (Gökçeada), Tenedos (Bozcaada) and Istanbul. Dendias, who asked Turkey to comply with international and European standards for respecting the rights of people and minorities, further noted that they will continue to remind Turkey of its commitments at every opportunity and to highlight the injustices suffered by the Hellenism in Imbros (Gökçeada).
“I read with great surprise the statements of the president, prime minister and foreign minister of our country Greece in a similar context. The most senior executives of our country have once again continued the habit of turning their backs on the facts and expressing an illusion that only they believe in. Our country ignores the Turkish community in Western Thrace which has been granted the same rights as the Greek Orthodox minority in our motherland and considers it a threat and a danger within the framework of reciprocity determined by the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty. It is absurd for our country, which has not executed the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights regarding our associations for nearly 14 years despite all the warnings and calls of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to call on our motherland to comply with its obligations arising from the Treaty of Lausanne and international conventions. While our country has hijacked our educational autonomy with unilateral policies and practices over the years, closed our primary schools one by one every year on grounds of lack of students and ignored our request for bilingual minority kindergartens, our motherland has opened schools even for only four students in Imbros (Gökçeada) at the request of the Greek Orthodox minority. Currently, education is provided in kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools belonging to the Greek Orthodox minority in Imbros (Gökçeada). Now I want to ask: is it our country or our motherland that must comply with its obligations arising from the Treaty of Lausanne and international conventions?”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
