In its presentation at the meeting, ABTTF expressed the issues experienced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of education.
The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) participated on 7 April 2022 in the meeting of the Intergroup for Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages in the European Parliament (EP), which was held online. ABTTF International Affairs Director Melek Kırmacı Arık attended the meeting and delivered a presentation with respect to the issues experienced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of education, with a special focus on the lack of bilingual minority kindergartens to teach Turkish and Greek in Western Thrace.
Approximately fifty people attended the meeting which was moderated by Intergroup Co-Chairs François Alfonsi (MEP, France) and Loránt Vincze (MEP, Romania).
The first session, moderated by Alfonsi, discussed how regional autonomy could constitute an alternative in resolving conflicts as well as in securing the linguistic and cultural rights of the linguistic minorities. Intervening in this session, Minister for Industry and Trade in Åland’s government Fredrik Karlström and Director at the Åland Peace Institute Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark touched upon the past and current state of autonomy in the Åland Autonomous Administration, where the Swedish-speaking community in Finland lives.
Intervening in the second session which was moderated by Vincze, ABTTF International Relations Director Melek Kırmacı Arık noted that Greece does not recognize the ‘Turkish’ identity of the Turkish community in Western Thrace and that it has repeatedly interfered in its educational autonomy. Noting that the Turkish primary schools in the Western Thrace region have been closed one by one by the Greek authorities over the past years on grounds of an insufficient number of students, Kırmacı Arık stated that although pre-school education is mandatory in Greece, bilingual Turkish kindergartens are not allowed to be established in Western Thrace, and that children belonging to the Turkish community are deprived of their right to a good education in their mother tongue Turkish.
Furthermore, Kırmacı Arık indicated that the words ‘Turkish community in Western Thrace’ in the original title of the petition submitted to the EP Committee on Petitions with the signature of the student’s parent Ozan Ahmetoğlu as regards to the lack of bilingual Turkish kindergartens in Western Thrace was removed following a meeting about the petition at the Committee on 10 January 2022. Kırmacı Arık also explained in detail the issue of the bilingual kindergartens as the EP Committee on Petitions had sent the petition to the EP Committee on Culture and Education and prior to the opinion regarding the petition awaiting to be formulated by the latter.
Calling upon Greece to respect the educational autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, Kırmacı Arık demanded that the Greek authorities allow the applications for the establishment of bilingual Turkish kindergartens in Western Thrace within the framework of the Turkish minority schools system and as well as the establishment of bilingual private kindergartens in the region.
Speaking during the Q&A following the presentation, Vincze indicated that the Greek Members of the European Parliament (MEP) reject the existence of a Turkish minority in Greece and that it is almost impossible to have a dialogue with them, while Alfonsi noted that as MEPs, they should condemn the approach of Greece towards the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
