Press Bureau of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF)-
Witten, 28 April 2005
Press Release:
The Visit of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) to the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) went off successfully.
The delegation, which visited the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) in accordance with the decision taken by the Executive Board of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), passed on the problems of the Western Thrace Turks to the Members of Parliament (MoP) from 46 European countries through making several interviews.
The delegation composed of the president of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), Halit Hatioglu, and the vice-predident, Zeynep Adem, has expressed the current problems of the Western Thrace Turkish minority during its two-day Strasbourg visit through exchanging ideas and minds with the Council of Europe Secretaries, the Commission Presidents and the MoP. The 3 subject matters came to the foreground at the meetings, namely; the ban of the Turkish Union of Xanthi due to the only reason that it carries the word “Turkish” in its name, the Cultural Association of Turkish Women in Rhodope, which could not get the foundation permission due to the same reason, and the Art. 19 of the Greek Citizenship Law, because of which over 60 thousand Western Thrace Turks have lost their citizenships from 1955 till it was annulled in 1995.
“We call the European Members of Parliament to act for a political solution.”
The delegation of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) mentioned that the Art. 19 of the Greek Citizenship Law, which had opened the way of dropping the citizenships of over 60 thousand people, was annulled through the pressures came from the West, especially from the European Union; and added to that a substantial part of these citizenship victims had to still live in Turkey, Greece and Germany in the “stateless status”, since the article annulled could not be traced back to the past. The president of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), Mr. Habipoglu, said that while the citizenship was easily issued to the immigrants coming from the ex-Soviet countries already at the entry to the country through filling out a form with the claim that they were from the Hellenic race, the “stateless status” of the Western Thrace Turks, who have been Greek citizens for years, were paying their tax, and doing their military service, did not comply with any justice and law criterion. He also said, “The “stateless status” problem of the Art. 19-victims, who cannot even get their retirement salaries, although they paid their retirement payments, and cannot participate to the economical life due to their status, has become impossible to solve through legal means, which need big financial efforts. The political solution has become a necessity now. We call the European Members of Parliament to act for a solution of this problem.”
Question Motion to the PACE
The Responsible for the Political Matters of the PACE, Klaus Schumann, with whom the delegation interviewed, said that it could be possible to carry the problem to the General Assembly of the PACE as a “question motion”, when a report summarizing the subject matter was prepared, and the signatures could be gathered from the adequate number of Members of Parliament. Schumann declared that he would offer the necessary support concerning this subject. The Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe, Alvaro Gil-Robles, with whom the delegation interviewed on the second day, requested after listening to the problems of the Western Thrace that the problems were described in a written petition addressed to his post, and he was called for an action.
“We are the children of Europe”
After returning from Strasbourg, Mr. Habipoglu made an evaluation of the visits, and said, “We are the minority children of Europe, which is developing and growing day by day. We are facing with the repressions due to the archaic mentalities in our country, which is proud of being a member of the European Union. These repressions are nowhere else to be seen in Europe, in the geography of human and minority rights. The pressures of the European Union in the last years have secured a partial improvement in our problems concerning the citizenship rights. However, we also want that this improvement spreads out to the minority rights, and for this reason, we are looking for the support from all of the European organizations in order to remedy this shame.”
