ABTTF President: “It is natural that our country has demands and expectations from our motherland regarding the Greek Orthodox minority. On the other hand, we expect our country to approach the issues of our community in a sincere manner, which is its responsibility, and to respect their rights. Only then our country will be credible in terms of arguing that the rights of the minorities is an important issue for itself’’.
George Kalantzis, Secretary General for Religious Affairs at the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports of our country Greece, delivered a statement about the Xanthi Minority Secondary and High School belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the Thraki newspaper on 1 December 2023.
Indicating that the School Board of the Xanthi Minority Secondary and High School sent an open letter to the President and the Prime Minister regarding the school’s building issue, Kalantzis noted that Greece is a democratic country and that there are no boundaries to the right to protest as long as the laws are not violated. Furthermore, Kalantzis explained tthat securing the rights of minorities is a very important issue for Greece and claimed that the Greek minority in Istanbul has diminished over the years compared to the developing Muslim minority in (Western) Thrace.
“Secretary General for Religious Affairs George Kalantzis continues to make unrealistic claims by distorting the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne. As he knows, in the Treaty of Lausanne, the term ‘‘non-Muslim’’ minorities is utilised for the minorities in our motherland Turkey, they are not called labelled as Greek minorities. Kalantzis constantly compares the population of the Greek Orthodox minority in Istanbul, Gökçeada and Bozcaada with the population of the Turkish community in Western Thrace. Therefore, I would like to remind him of the following: Today, 21 children are studying in the kindergarten and primary school belonging to the Greek Orthodox minority, which was opened with only 5 children in Gökçeada. Private kindergartens belonging to the Greek Orthodox minority in Istanbul have been operating for decades. Meanwhile, although we constitute 55 percent of the population in Rodopi, 45 percent in Xanthi, and 10 percent in Evros, the authorities do not allow the establishment of bilingual Turkish minority kindergartens in Western Thrace. Moreover, although we were granted educational autonomy according to the Treaty of Lausanne, our primary schools with autonomous status are closed one by one every year under the pretext of economic reasons and lack of sufficient pupils. While there were 188 Turkish primary schools in Western Thrace in 2008, this number has decreased to 90 in 2023. Our demand is clear: We want the immediate restoration of our educational autonomy, which was implemented until 1974. It is natural that our country has demands and expectations from our motherland regarding the Greek Orthodox minority. On the other hand, we expect our country to approach the issues of our community in a sincere manner, which is its responsibility, and to respect their rights. Only then our country will be credible in terms of arguing that the rights of the minorities is an important issue for itself’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.gundemgazetesi.com
