ABTTF President: “We demand that the ND government, which has taken office, learn from the mistakes it has made in the last four years and deal with the issues of our community sincerely, and consult with us by establishing a one-to-one dialogue from the very beginning on the reforms it will carry out on matters directly related to us’’.
New Democracy (ND), led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has been serving as the Prime Minister for the last four years, won the general elections held on Sunday, 25 June 2023 in our country Greece. According to the election results, New Democracy gained 158 deputies in the 300-seat parliament with 40.5 percent of the vote. The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (SYRIZA) gained 48 seats with 17.83 percent, while PASOK-KINAL got 32 seats with 11.84 percent, the Communist Party (KKE) 20 seats with 7.69 percent, Spartans 12 seats with 4.63 percent, Greek Solution 12 seats with 4.44 percent, Democratic Patriotic Movement – Victory 10 seats with 3.69 percent and Course of Freedom 8 seats with 3.17 percent.
While ND exceeded the number of 151 seats required to be in power alone in the general elections and where the turnout was 52.84 percent, the far right gained representation in the Greek Parliament through 3 parties that are Spartan, Victory, and Greek Solution.
As in the 21 May general elections, the same four members of the Trace Turkish community in Western Thrace were elected as deputies in the 25 June general elections. In the prefecture of Rodopi, where SYRIZA achieved the highest number of votes, the candidate from this party, Özgür Ferhat, was re-elected as a deputy. In the prefecture of Xanthi, Hüseyin Zeybek from SYRIZA and Burhan Baran from PASOK-KINAL succeeded in re-entering the Greek Parliament. While SYRIZA was the first party in Rodopi with 33.60 percent, ND took the first place in Xanthi with 30.32 percent.
ND Leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in on 26 June 2023 and started his four-year term as Prime Minister. The new cabinet, consisting of 64 members, including the Prime Minister, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and Alternate Ministers, took the oath at the Presidency on 27 June 2023.
In his assessment of the election results, Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) made the following statement: ‘‘Following the general elections which were held on 21 May, we left behind the general elections on 25 June. Our community, which has been targeted in politics and the mainstream media and is exposed to an othering and stigmatising discourse as it has never been before a general election, sent the best answer against this on 25 June with their free will at the ballot box, and four Turkish deputies from the prefectures of Rodopi and Xanthi were again elected to the Parliament with their votes. Despite all the denial policy of our country, the results of the 25 June general elections once again clearly demonstrate our presence in our region and our power with our voting potential. Prime Minister Mitsotakis, in his statement right after the election results, indicated that the new government would carry out important reforms in our country. We demand that the ND government, which has taken office, learn from the mistakes it has made in the last four years and deal with the issues of our community sincerely, and consult with us by establishing a one-to-one dialogue from the very beginning on the reforms it will carry out on matters directly related to us’’.
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