During the meetings held during the working visit, the current issues of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, especially those related to education and freedom of association were discussed.
The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) paid a working visit to Strasbourg on 9-11 October 2023, in parallel with the Autumn Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
The ABTTF delegation, consisting of ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu and ABTTF International Relations Director Melek Kırmacı Arık, expressed the current issues of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in their meetings with PACE members and the Council of Europe bodies. The ABTTF delegation also attended the three-day general assembly meeting of the Council of Europe Conference of International NGOs (CINGO).
During the meetings with politicians and eurocrats, the ABTTF delegation discussed the issues pertaining to the Xanthi Turkish Union, the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Prefecture of Rodopi and Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association in the Bekir-Ousta and Others Group of Cases, which were examined by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in its meeting in June 2023 within the scope of freedom of association and it was further stressed that the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding the aforementioned associations have not been executed by Greece for the past fifteen years. Indicating that a lawsuit was filed for the second time requesting the revocation of the registration of the Western Thrace Fenerbahçe Culture and Sports Association, which was established in October 2022, the ABTTF delegation noted that the hearing of the case was held on 6 September 2023 and that the court is expected to announce its decision.
Within the framework of the issues faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of education, the ABTTF delegation explained that the primary schools with autonomous status belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace are closed by unilateral ministerial decisions under the pretext of a lack of sufficient pupils, and it was added, in this regard, that with the closure of 9 primary schools in Western Thrace in the 2023-2024 school year, the number of Turkish primary schools in Western Thrace, which was 235 in 1995 dropped to 90 today.
Furthermore, the ABTTF delegation reminded that with the participation of school board members along with student parents, students and representatives of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, an 11-day protest was organised from 18 September to 28 September against the double-shift schooling imposed by the Directorate of Secondary Education of Xanthi at the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School which was successfully concluded. It was emphasised that the Greek authorities persistently ignore the justified demands of the Turkish community in Western Thrace regarding education, such as the example of bilingual minority kindergartens.
Moreover, the ABTTF delegation pointed out that the Turkish community in Western Thrace is directly targeted and marginalised in politics and mainstream media, as in the general elections held in Greece in May and June 2023, and that individuals and institutions representing the Turkish community are subjected to hate speech, and that even SYRIZA MP from Xanthi Hüseyin Zeybek was threatened with death during a live broadcast on a local television programme.
