ABTTF President: “The statement of our country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gerapetritis, that the members of the Turkish community in Western Thrace enjoy equal rights, is inconsistent with the facts. Despite all the warnings of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, our country, which has closed our associations with the word ‘Turkish’ in their names in Western Thrace and has not executed the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights on our closed associations for the past 15 years, allows an association with the word ‘Armenian’ in its name, which refers to ethnic origin or group, to operate legally in our region, and applies double standards against us regarding freedom of association.”
Our country Greece’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Gerapetritis, met with Hakan Fidan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, in Ankara on 5 September 2023. After the meeting between Gerapetritis and Fidan, a joint press conference was held. During the meeting, the issues pertaining to the Turkish community in Western Thrace were also touched upon.
Indicating that they also discussed the issues of their kinsmen living in Greece as an important agenda item at the joint press conference, Fidan noted the following: “We have also implemented many positive practices regarding the issues of the minorities in our country. We expect the same constructive practice for our kinsmen’’.
In his statement to the press, Gerapetritis noted that they discussed issues concerning minorities during the meeting and added: “In our view, minorities constitute bridges of cooperation and peace between the two countries. Members of minorities in Greece are equal citizens. They enjoy equal rights.”
“The statement of our country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gerapetritis, that the members of the Turkish community in Western Thrace enjoy equal rights, is inconsistent with the facts. Despite all the warnings of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, our country, which has closed our associations with the word ‘Turkish’ in their names in Western Thrace and has not executed the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights on our closed associations for the past 15 years, allows an association with the word ‘Armenian’ in its name, which refers to ethnic origin or group, to operate legally in our region, and applies double standards against us regarding freedom of association. Although our educational and religious autonomy were guaranteed within the framework of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, our autonomous primary schools are closed one by one every year on the pretext of lack of sufficient pupils, and our demand for bilingual minority kindergartens has been left unanswered by the authorities of our country for years. While the state does not interfere in the internal affairs of the dominant religion in our country, that is Orthodox Christianity, and other recognised religions, our autonomous mufti offices were transformed into government offices with the latest law. All these examples clearly show the gap between the statements of our country’s rulers about our community and the facts”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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