ABTTF President: “Our young people from the Turkish community in Western Thrace have been forced to take additional private courses in primary and secondary education in order to succeed as a result of the state’s continuous interference with our educational autonomy for decades and the quality of minority education. Therefore, no one should try to take credit for the success of our young people for the sake of political profit.”
The final report prepared by the inter-party Commission for the Development of Thrace in the Greek Parliament was discussed at the Parliament General Assembly on 6 April 2022.
Angelos Syrigos, Deputy Minister of Education and Religious Affairs in charge of Higher Education and a Member of Parliament for the New Democracy (ND) Party, stated that the level of higher education of the Muslim minority in Thrace has increased in the past, adding that thousands of minority members studied at the Democritus University of Thrace, most of them doctors, lawyers and civil engineers.
“We are proud of the success of these young people, and this is the result of equality and equal rights that work in our country. We have practically proved that Greece respects the rights of the minority in Thrace”, noted Syrigos.
“Yes, in recent years, hundreds of young people from the Turkish community in Western Thrace in our country Greece have started their careers after graduating from university. Deputy Minister Syrigos distorts the truth by saying that this is the result of the equality he claims is operating in our country. Indeed, this success is the success of our young people and our families, alone. Because our young people are forced to take additional private courses in primary and secondary education in order to succeed as a result of the state reducing the quality of minority education with constant interventions in our educational autonomy for decades. Furthermore, many of our young people who enter the university are abandoning their higher education due to the lack of financial resources of their families. Therefore, no one should try to take credit for the success of our young people for the sake of political profit”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
