ABTTF President: “We hope that the government will not discriminate against the Turkish community in Western Thrace, which makes its living largely from agriculture and especially tobacco production and does not exclude tobacco producers from our community in the distribution of the grant support.”
The European Commission has approved a 31.5-million-euro financial support programme to support certain agricultural producers in Greece who have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 outbreak and the restrictive measures imposed to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
Under the programme, the financial assistance is expected to be distributed to fig, lavender, olive, potato, mandarin and tobacco producers in the form of direct grants by 30 June 2022 at the latest, provided that it does not exceed 290,000 euros per beneficiary.
“The decision of the European Commission to provide financial support is a development that is welcome for agricultural producers in Greece, which have been struggling financially for the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We hope that the government will not discriminate against the Turkish community in Western Thrace, which makes its living largely from agriculture and especially tobacco production and does not exclude tobacco producers from our community in the distribution of the grant support. We believe that our deputies from our community that are in Parliament and our politicians at the local and state level will do their part in the fair distribution of grants in Western Thrace and will pursue this issue”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
