ABTTF President: “Now, the claim that the majority of the ‘Minority in Thrace’ is composed of Pomaks who were converted to Islam by force in the early Ottoman period’ has come to the forefront! So why do we always say that we are Turkish, why? It seems that our country is in such a stalemate that it is now trying to go back in history and rebuild the facts!”
In a letter addressed to Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the Thessaloniki-based National and Religious Issues Melathron Anastasiou-Ioulias Billi Foundation (I.E.T.P.) conveyed a joint resolution with respect to the Muslim religious authorities and minorities outside of Türkiye, claiming that the majority of the Minority living in Western Thrace is composed of Pomaks who were converted to Islam by force under the early Ottoman rule.
Referring to Articles 27, 30 and 45 of the Treaty of Lausanne in the resolution it sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, the foundation indicated that Türkiye’s statements as regards Muslim religious authorities and minorities abroad constituted ‘‘Türkiye’s open and arrogant intervention against the Muslim Minority living in the Thrace region of Greece’’.
Touching on to the visit of the Consultative Committee of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority and to the statements made by the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding the Turkish community in Western Thrace and the statement made by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs afterwards, the foundation noted that there is no expression such as ‘Turkish Minority’ within the framework of the Treaty of Lausanne and alleged that the statements realised by Türkiye infuriated the Pomaks converted to Islam by force living in the region. Indicating that the Muslim minority in the region consists of Pomaks, Roma as well as people of Turkish origin and others, the foundation underscored that the Pomaks reject the Turkish origin, who made the majority of the Muslim minority.
Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) made the following statement: ‘‘Recently, the rulers of our country constantly refer to the Treaty of Lausanne and state that we are not Turks but that we are Muslims, but, in contrast, they do not see any harm in using the term Greek Orthodox minority for the minority in Turkey, which is defined by the same Treaty of Lausanne. Now, the claim that the majority of the ‘Minority in Thrace’ is composed of Pomaks who were converted to Islam by force in the early Ottoman period’ has come to the forefront! So why do we always say we are Turkish, why? It seems that our country is in such a stalemate, that it is now trying to go back in history and rebuild the facts! Pity, pity indeed! Instead of sincerely trying to solve the current issues, they are beating a dead horse by rewriting the past and with an effort to change the present!’’
