ABTTF President: “A person’s freedom of travel cannot be obstructed; this right is a human right. However, this is not the first time, we have witnessed many times in the past that our friends representing the Turkish community in Western Thrace were not allowed to enter Greece. Today we see that nothing has changed. The ban on entry into the country continues, you are given a form, but you do not even know why you were not allowed into the country. You can be turned away from the border without any reason, moreover, in an EU country!”
Hasan Küçük, Chair of the Western Thrace Turks Solidarity Association (BTTDD), the umbrella organisation of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in our motherland Türkiye, was not admitted to Greece.
Hasan Küçük, who is from Kimméria (Koyunköy) in Xanthi, was not allowed to enter Greece through the Kipi Border Station on Tuesday, 15 August and Küçük was given an ‘‘Inadmissible Passenger Form’’.
Speaking to Gündem newspaper, Hasan Küçük indicated that he and his mother and father, who were born in Kimméria (Koyunköy) in Xanthi, came to the Kipi Border Station with their vehicles to visit their village and relatives in the village, but he was not allowed to enter the country. Küçük explained the following: “It is shameful in the name of democracy, in the name of human rights, in the name of freedom of travel. While we wait for the relations between the two countries to improve, cooperation and peace to come, we, as Western Thrace Turks, continue to face prohibitions and obstacles. A huge question mark in my head. We were going to our hometown, to our village. An acquaintance from Greece came and took my family from customs. They continued. I had to go back. My biggest regret is that my family and my child have also experienced this trauma. They had to continue the journey fearfully.”
ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu made the following statement: “I express our support to Küçük with sadness at the fact that BTTDD Chair Hasan Küçük was not allowed to enter Greece. It is unacceptable for our country Greece, to reject Küçük, who came to Greece with his family to visit his hometown, from the border without giving any reason. A person’s freedom of travel cannot be obstructed; this right is a human right. However, this is not the first time, we have witnessed many times in the past that our friends representing the Turkish community in Western Thrace were not allowed to enter Greece. Today we see that nothing has changed. The ban on entry into the country continues, you are given a form, but you do not even know why you were not allowed into the country. You can be turned away from the border without any reason, moreover, in an EU country! What a pity!’’
*Image: www.gundemgazetesi.com
