ABTTF President: “However much our country may deny it, we have been living on these lands for centuries with our Turkish identity. Our country, which is even disturbed by the message published by our motherland on the anniversary of the foundation of ITB – an organisation dissolved because of the word ‘‘Turkish’’ in its name – is disregarding the European Convention on Human Rights, to which it is a party, by persistently refusing to execute the ECtHR’s judgment regarding ITB for the past 18 years, yet claims to fully implement international human rights conventions. This is truly unbelievable!”
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to the message issued by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 14 April 2026 to mark the 99th anniversary of the Xanthi Turkish Union (ITB), the oldest civil society organisation of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
In its written statement, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the Treaty of Lausanne explicitly defines the status of the minority in Western Thrace as “religious”, that Greece, as a state governed by the rule of law, acts within the framework of the Constitution, and that it fully implements international human rights conventions.
The statement further claimed that respect is shown for the religious beliefs and cultural characteristics of the “Muslim minority in Western Thrace” and that all its members enjoy full equality and equal citizenship rights as Greek citizens.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a post on its official social media account, had expressed its continued support for ITB’s just struggle to use its own name and for the initiatives it has been pursuing with determination in line with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), whilst celebrating the 99th anniversary of ITB’s foundation.
“Our country, Greece, continues to distort the facts regarding our community by interpreting the Treaty of Lausanne in its own way. However much our country may deny it, we have been living on these lands for centuries with our Turkish identity. Our country, which is even disturbed by the message published by our motherland on the anniversary of the foundation of ITB – an organisation dissolved because of the word ‘‘Turkish’’ in its name – is disregarding the European Convention on Human Rights, to which it is a party, by persistently refusing to execute the ECtHR’s judgment regarding ITB for the past 18 years, yet claims to fully implement international human rights conventions. This is truly unbelievable! Our country must immediately end its policy of denying the ethnic Turkish identity of our community and establish direct and good-faith dialogue with our community to solve our problems’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe.
*Image: www.anadoluimages.com
