ABTTF President: “While the racist Article 19 practice is still alive in the memory, the efforts to create a false perception with the suggestions mentioned in the article will once again deeply shake the trust of our community in its country.”
An article published on the local xanthinews.gr news website states that the population in Western Thrace has developed in favour of the Turkish community and suggests that the majority and minority population should be balanced.
The article, which also refers to the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty, indicates that at that time the populations of the Greek Orthodox minority in Istanbul and the Turkish community in Western Thrace were balanced, but over the years the Turkish community in Western Thrace developed while the Greek Orthodox minority was expelled from Istanbul.
In the article, in order to prevent this trend in Western Thrace and to balance the minority-majority population, it is suggested that students may vote in the cities where they study, that incentives could be foreseen for persons from Northern Epirus (Albania) and Christian Albanians to settle in the region, and that the immovable properties of those who leave the region should be transferred to the permanent residents and non-land owners in the region by giving the necessary compensation as stipulated by law.
‘‘When I read the article in question, I was astounded and thought of the discriminatory practices targeting the Turkish community in Western Thrace during the military junta period. It is an article written with a completely racist and hateful perception. Moreover, the proposals are directly contrary to the articles regulating the principles of equality for Greek citizens in the constitution. The article is as if the authorities are being invited to adopt the abrogated racist understanding of Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Law. As it is known, within the framework of the provisions of Article 19, which remained in force from 1955 to 1998 in order to reduce the population of the Turkish community in Western Thrace and to assimilate the Turkish community, approximately 60 thousand Western Thrace Turks were completely and unjustly removed from citizenship because they were not of Greek ancestry. While the application of Article 19 is still alive in the memory, the efforts to create a false perception with the suggestions mentioned in the article will once again deeply shake the trust of our community in its country”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
