ABTTF President: “We are well aware that our country aims to completely eliminate our Turkish school system and educational autonomy through these arbitrary and oppressive practices, but we will never allow this to happen. We stand firmly behind the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School Board in their democratic and just struggle.”
In a written statement issued on 30 September 2025, the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School Board noted that they were denied access to the school building they manage.
The statement highlighted that the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Greece is facing new oppressive and anti-democratic practices in the field of education. It indicated that the board’s office inside the school was vacated during renovations carried out in the summer, and that with the opening of schools, board members were prevented from entering the school where they work.
The statement further explained that artificial obstacles were being placed in the way of the school boards, the legal administrators of Turkish schools in Western Thrace, fulfilling their duties and responsibilities, and that attempts were being made to destroy their institutional identity. It was also noted that no concrete or positive results had been achieved in discussions with the authorities to date.
The Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School Board demanded that these prohibitions against the school boards, which are one of the most important institutions for the education of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, be lifted immediately and that the arbitrary obstacles placed in the way of their legal rights be removed. It called on all authorities to take decisions in line with the nature and spirit of Turkish minority schools, whose status is determined by the Treaty of Lausanne, and to act in accordance with the law and democratic values.
‘‘The Turkish community in Western Thrace has the right to establish, manage and supervise its own schools in accordance with the Treaty of Lausanne. Therefore, the arbitrary refusal by the Greek authorities to allow members of the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School Board, elected by our pupils’ parents, to enter the school building is a clear violation of our educational autonomy. We are well aware that our country aims to completely eliminate our Turkish school system and educational autonomy through these arbitrary and oppressive practices, but we will never allow this. We stand with the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School Board in their democratic and just struggle to the very end’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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