ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu: ‘‘ “Sharia’’ has never been applied in Western Thrace, and customary law is applied in our region within the scope of rights arising from international treaties. At this point, the law applied in our region should not be confused with the Sharia law in Iran or Afghanistan. It is necessary to pay attention to the terminology used, because saying that ‘‘sharia’’ is applied in Western Thrace not only negatively affects the perception of our community, but also has the potential to fuel hate speech, which has already reached alarming proportions.”
Former Deputy Maria Yannakaki, who served as the Secretary General of Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights of Greece during the SYRIZA government, wrote to Avgi newspaper on the occasion of the 21 March UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, expressing that every citizen should be protected from racist violence and racist discourse, noting that the aforementioned right is not only an individual but a collective right.
Listing the steps taken by SYRIZA to strengthen and protect human rights for all citizens during the four and a half years in power, Yannakaki indicated that they have taken a series of measures to eliminate the injustices of the past and present, and that they are thus trying to rebuild social justice.
Yannakaki noted that as part of the steps taken during the SYRIZA rule, “the mandatory application of sharia towards the Muslim minority in Thrace has been lifted.”
In response to the statements made by Yannakaki, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) Halit Habip Oğlu made the following statement: ‘‘In Yannakaki’s article for Avgi, the words ‘‘Because in reality we are all different, but at the same time we are completely equal’’ are very meaningful. The rule of law principle should be strengthened for a participatory democracy by preventing hate speech in the public sphere; Policies in substance, not in words, should be produced! In her article, Yannakaki lists the positive steps taken during the SYRIZA rule, and notes that they abolished the ‘‘mandatory sharia’’ practice with respect to the Turkish community in Western Thrace. At this point, we would like to remind you that ‘‘sharia’’ has never been applied in Western Thrace, and customary law is applied in our region within the scope of rights arising from international treaties. The situation in our region should not be confused with the Sharia law in Iran or Afghanistan, so it is necessary to pay attention to the terminology used. Indeed, saying that ‘‘sharia’’ is applied in Western Thrace not only negatively affects the perception of our community, but also has the potential to fuel hate speech, which has already reached alarming proportions’’.
