In the elections held at the General Assembly, the 22nd Presidium, Audit and Disciplinary Boards that will govern ABTTF for the next four years were elected.
The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) held its 22nd Ordinary General Assembly Meeting on Saturday, 19 April 2025. As a result of the elections held at the general assembly meeting held in Gießen, Germany with the participation of delegates from the ABTTF member associations, the new president and vice-presidents of ABTTF and the new members of the audit and disciplinary boards were determined.
Habip Oğlu: We will not stop until we get our rights. We have always struggled until today and today we are ready with myself and my friends
The 22nd Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of ABTTF started with a minute of silence in memory of ABTTF Vice President Mehmet Hüseyin, who passed away on 2 February 2025 and who was at the forefront of the just cause of the Turkish community in Western Thrace during his 23 years of service in the ABTTF Presidium.
In his welcoming speech following the minute of silence, ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu indicated that during their four-year term of office between 2021 and 2025, they pursued their activities in the international arena and conveyed the issues of the Turkish community in Western Thrace on international platforms both verbally and in writing.
Habip Oğlu pointed out that the Turkish primary schools with autonomous status in Western Thrace were closed with the state decision on grounds of the low number of pupils and that their number has decreased rapidly in recent years. Habip Oğlu stated that while there were 194 Turkish primary schools in the 2009-2010 school year, today this number has decreased to 86. On the other hand, he further added that the school building problem in the Xanthi Turkish Secondary and High School, which has not been resolved, still continues. Habip Oğlu underlined that education is the future of the Turkish community in Western Thrace and that it is indispensable for Turkish children to receive a quality education in their mother tongue Turkish and noted that they demand the restoration of the autonomy of the Turkish community in education.
Habip Oğlu concluded with the following words: ‘‘We will not stop until we get our right, we have never stopped until today, we have always struggled. Today, we are ready with myself and my friends. We have a vision! We have a strategy! We have faith to realise this! We always have hope!’’.
At the 22nd Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of ABTTF, Cafer Alioğlu, the first President and also the Honorary President of ABTTF, was elected as the Chair of the Council, Deniz Servantie from ABTTF Brussels Office and Tanju Apti Oğlu, member of Troisdorf Western Thrace Turks Solidarity and Assistance Association, were elected as the Secretaries of the Council.
ABTTF Honorary President Cafer Alioğlu, in his speech after his election as the Chair of the Council of ABTTF 22nd Legislative Period, explained that ABTTF has been fighting tirelessly for the rights and cause of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Greece since its establishment in 1988 and that he has no doubt that this will continue in the future, and that it is important for the Turkish community in Western Thrace to cooperate with other minorities in Europe and that ABTTF’s efforts should be pursued for the restoration of its educational and religious autonomy.
At the 22nd Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of ABTTF, the activity report of the 21st Legislative Period was presented by ABTTF Head Office Manager K. Engin Soyyılmaz, the treasury report of the 21st Legislative Period by ABTTF Vice President Sebahattin Mümin and the audit report of the 21st Legislative Period by ABTTF Audit Board Chair Halit Haşim Subsequently, the ABTTF Presidium of the 21st Legislative Period was unanimously acquitted by an open vote.
ABTTF 22nd President and Vice Presidents and members of the Audit and Disciplinary Boards were elected
After the introductory speeches of the candidates, elections were held. Halit Habip Oğlu, who entered the ABTTF 22nd Legislative Period election as the only candidate, was re-elected as ABTTF President for the next four years, while three new names were elected to the ABTTF Presidium.
As a result of the elections, ABTTF’s Presidium, Audit and Disciplinary Boards for the 22nd Legislative Period were formed as follows:
ABTTF 22nd Presidium
President: Halit Habip Oğlu
Vice President: Sami Yusuf
Vice President: Sebahattin Mümin
Vice President: Serkan Muran
Vice President: Mustafa Kasap
Vice President: Yakup Yakup Salih
Vice President: Ali Osman
Vice President: Nabi Ibrahimcik
Vice President: Vedat Arap
Vice President: Fuat Ali
Vice President: Şerif Şerif
Substitute Members
Enes Düdükçü
İbrahim İbram
Ahmet Pehlivan
Veysel Ismail Hasan
ABTTF 22nd Audit Board
Halit Haşim
Gökhan Ismail Hasan
Yasin Hasan
ABTTF 22nd Disciplinary Board
Ali İpram
Halit Faik Oğlu
Erol Haşim
Following the elections, it was unanimously decided that ABTTF will become a member of the European Language Equality Network (ELEN), which works on language equality and minority education and has members from many countries in Europe, while ABTTF General Assembly’s call message to the public on the issues faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of education was also unanimously adopted.
In the aforementioned call message, it was emphasised that the educational autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace was guaranteed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 but this autonomous structure has been dismantled by various laws and regulations and arbitrary practices over the years and it was stated that despite all the steps taken by the state in order to dismantle the private and autonomous school system of the Turkish community in the long term, students in Turkish schools won awards in academic and scientific competitions organised among schools at state and national level. The ABTTF General Assembly underlined that education in mother tongue is a fundamental right of the Turkish community and demanded from the Greek government to put an end to all practices aiming to eliminate the educational autonomy of the Turkish community guaranteed by the treaties and to restore this autonomous structure in education.
