ABTTF President: “Our children, who belong to our community whose existence is denied in our country, are deprived of the right to learn their native language, Turkish, which is one of the most basic human rights. We want Androulakis to see the injustices that our children in our community suffer in the field of education and encourage the government to take steps to end them’’.
In his statement following the decision of the Court of Cassation (Arios Pagos) regarding the wiretapping scandal, opposition party PASOK-KINAL Chair Nikos Androulakis indicated that he believes that the way for the truth to be revealed about illegal phone tapping and monitoring has been opened.
Stating that he thinks that the case in question has opened Pandora’s box for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the New Democracy (ND) government and that he will continue to fight with all his might, Androulakis noted the following: “We and our children deserve to live in European norms where universal respect for human rights is respected and where there are strict obstacles against para-state activities and corruption.”
“We fully agree with the words of Nikos Androulakis, who was illegally wiretapped with a spyware programme and took this scandal to court, that we deserve to live in European norms in our country. It is noteworthy that Androulakis underlines that our children especially deserve this. Indeed, our children, who belong to our community whose existence is denied in our country, are deprived of the right to learn their mother tongue, Turkish, which is one of the most basic human rights. While there is not a single Turkish kindergarten in the prefecture of Rodopi, where we constitute the majority of the population, and in the prefecture of Xanthi, where we constitute approximately half of the population, the number of public kindergartens in each of these two prefectures is 141. Our primary schools with autonomous status in Western Thrace are being closed, contrary to our educational autonomy guaranteed by the agreements. While we had 226 primary schools in 2003, today this number has decreased to 90. As for secondary education, there are 25 state secondary and high schools in the prefecture of Rodopi and 32 state secondary and high schools in the prefecture of Xanthi, whereas the number of Turkish minority secondary and high schools in each of these two is only 1. We want Androulakis to also see these injustices suffered by our children belonging to our community in the field of education and encourage the government to take steps to end them”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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