ABTTF President: “Even if they ignore or turn a deaf ear to our demands, no party has the luxury of ignoring us in our region when the election comes! For this reason, all parties should know that there is no way they can gain success in the region by ignoring us! From now on, I hope everyone acts with awareness of this fact.”
General elections were held in our country Greece, on Sunday, 21 May 2023. According to the election results, the ruling New Democracy Party won 146 deputies with 40.79 percent, while the main opposition SYRIZA won 71 deputies with 20.07 percent. KINAL-PASOK had 41 deputies with 11.45 percent, the Communist Party had 26 deputies with 7.23 percent, and Greek Solution had 16 deputies with 4.45 percent. However, as neither party won enough votes to form a government, Greece will hold elections again on 25 June.
As a result of the general elections, Turkish candidates belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace received a total of 43,950 votes. As a result of the elections in which many Turks from different parties entered as candidates, we increased the number of deputies in Rodopi to two, with Özgür Ferhat from SYRIZA entering Parliament. In the province of Xanthi, Hüseyin Zeybek and Burhan Baran were re-elected and entered Parliament.
Assessing the elections results, ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu made the following statement: ‘‘We left behind the 21 May election. As you may remember, I had made an appeal saying, ‘‘Let’s be in Western Thrace on 21 May and let’s vote for our Turkish candidates by going to the polls!’’ After making this appeal, I came to my hometown, went to the polls in my village and cast my vote. As a result of the elections, while the colour of the whole country was painted to blue, the colour of New Democracy, only in Rodopi the map was painted to the colour of SYRIZA. With the entry of Özgür Ferhat, a candidate from SYRIZA in Rodopi to Parliament, we increased the number of our deputies in Rodopi to two. In Xanthi, Hüseyin Zeybek and Burhan Baran, who are deputies from SYRIZA, were re-elected and entered Parliament. 3 deputies from Rodopi and Xanthi entered Parliament, 2 of these 3 deputies in both provinces are members of our community. Even though it is indicated that ‘‘There are no Turks in Western Thrace’’, the result of the elections clearly reveals our presence in the region and our power with the vote potential we have. We showed our presence and power to our country’s rulers, political parties, and the people of the country, and we made our presence felt strongly as a community. Even if they ignore or turn a deaf ear to our demands, no party has the luxury of ignoring us in our region when the election comes! For this reason, all parties should know that there is no way they can gain success in the region by ignoring us! From now on, I hope everyone acts with awareness of this fact.”
