ABTTF President: “This latest incident is a new example of the systematic oppression and intimidation our community has been subjected to recently. There is clearly a bad intention here! There can be no other explanation for the detention of our benefactors in handcuffs as if they had committed a major offence due to a voluntary action’’.
On 13 February 2025, the police detained the chair of the board of trustees and four people who came to help them on grounds of laying paving stones in the mosque courtyard in the village of Artos (Karacaoğlan) of the Municipality of Arriana (Kozlukebir) of the Prefecture of Rodopi in Western Thrace region of Greece.
According to a news report published on Gündem newspaper, five members of the Turkish community in Western Thrace who were detained overnight at the police station in Komotini were released on Friday 14 February after being brought to court in handcuffs.
Upon the request of the lawyer, the hearing was postponed to Monday 24 February.
“This latest incident is a new example of the systematic oppression and intimidation our community has been subjected to recently. There is clearly a bad intention here! There can be no other explanation for the detention of our benefactors in handcuffs as if they have committed a major crime due to a voluntary action. The competent authorities of our country should immediately take the necessary steps to put an end to such oppressive practices against our community, which are incompatible with democracy and human rights, damage the international reputation of our country and harm the peace and tranquility in our region’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.gundemgazetesi.com
