Fiep Herinckx, who studies at the Department of Journalism at Utrecht University, prepared a short documentary film about the Turkish community in Western Thrace. Visiting our region in May 2023 for the preparation of the documentary titled ‘‘Between Ankara and Athens’’, Herinckx met with the representatives of our community with the help and support of ABTTF and realised interviews.
In the documentary, in which the denial of the ethnic Turkish identity of the Turkish community in Western Thrace is expressed as the beginning of all the issues, the words of Neil Clarke, Head of Advocacy of the International Minority Rights Group (MRG), one of the leading non-governmental organisations in the field of minority rights in the past, are included and he is quoted as saying that the situation of the community represents one of the examples of ‘‘the gravest case of systematic denial of rights’’.
In her documentary, Herinckx indicated that no entities with the word ‘‘Turkish’’ in their name are allowed, schools are called minority schools, and associations are not allowed to have the word ‘‘Turkish’’ in their names. In the documentary, which includes an interview with Xanthi Turkish Union President Ozan Ahmetoğlu, it is underscored that the removal of the signboard by the police in 1983 is a sign of denial of our identity.
Meeting with Mustafa Trampa, Elected Mufti of Xanthi with respect to the mufti issue, Herinckx included statements as regards the fact that the Turkish community in Western Thrace is treated differently in every field, including education. In the documentary, which includes an interview with Hülya Emin, the owner and editor-in-chief of Gündem newspaper, it is further noted that being a journalist who is defending the minority rights is leading to marginalisation.
Furthermore, the documentary, which also includes an interview with President of the Friendship, Equality, Peace (FEP) Party Çiğdem Asafoğlu, it is indicated that the FEP Party had sent a letter to the UN, underlining that they wanted a dialogue to be established with the Greek authorities and Greece and to find solutions the existing issues together.
In the documentary, which also includes an interview with a youth from the Turkish community in Western Thrace, it is noted that the people, especially in the villages, do not know how to speak Greek; but that after all, it is important to be accepted as human beings. Indicating through an interview which was realised with Kostas Karaiskos, Member of the City Council of Komotini, that the answer changes depending on whom it is asked, Herinckx explained that, in contrast to the comment made by Karaiskos that the issue stems from Türkiye’s Greece policy, Neil Clarke from MRG argued that the continued deterioration of the rights of the Minority in the last 30 to 40 years did not directly lead to a severing of relations between Greece and Türkiye and that they have observed that there is systematic discrimination against the Minority in the region.
Please click here to watch the documentary realised by Herinckx:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLdGR_8VCDU
