ABTTF: “Establish Associations!”

Press Office of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF)-
Witten, 18 July 2005

Appeal from the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) to the Balkan Turks in Europe: “Establish Associations!”

The executives of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) have appealed to the Western Thrace Turks living in Europe and members of the Balkan and Turkish/Muslim minorities to organize.

Halit Habipoglu, the President, and Sami Yusuf, the member of the Executive Board of ABTTF, which was established by 25 thousand Western Thrace Turks living in Europe and is the umbrella organization of 29 associations, appealed to the Muslim-Turkish immigrants from Balkans in Europe to establish associations in order to defend their rights in the best way. The immigrants from Balkans, who came to Europe with the aim of working, or due to the repressions they had faced in their countries, and whose population counts to almost 100 thousand, live dispersed without being informed from each other. The most of these people had lived behind the iron curtain for years, and since they do not present an accumulated population in their new homelands they have settled down, they had to start everything from the beginning, and could not find the courage in themselves to establish associations. The executives of ABTTF stated that they would provide all of the Turks and Muslims from Balkans the necessary legal and technical support in order to overcome this problem.

The President of ABTTF, Halit Habipoglu, stressed that the Balkan minorities living near the centres such as Strasbourg, Brussels or the Hague, where the heart of Europe beats, should take the initiative in their hands in order that their problems were solved and the peace and tolerance culture, which had been always kept alive by themselves, were introduced truly, and said: “The data we have reveal that the population from various Balkan countries, which has immigrated to, or took refuge in Western Europe, has reached to big numbers, and is about 200 thousand only in Germany. As Western Thrace Turks being one of the inheritors of the Turkish-Muslim legacy in Balkans, we believe that it is a duty of us to support our brothers, whose largest part had to leave their homelands due to the unjust practices and repressions. Our umbrella organization ABTTF, which has been acting officially since 1988, and whose past could be traced back till the first days of the migration to the Western Europe, is ready to provide legal consultancy without any charge to all of the Turkish and Muslims from Balkans, who want to establish their own associations.”

Sami Yusuf, member of the Executive Board of ABTTF and responsible for the Funeral Fond, appealed to the Western Thrace Turks who could not establish their own associations in the regions they live, and said: “In many centres in Europe, where many Western Thrace Turks live, we have succeeded to organize. At present, in many regions, the arrangements for the establishment of our new associations still continue. Two of our associations, which have ended their establishment processes, are going to join to our Federation soon. However, in some regions, due to the lack of knowledge related to the legal process, associations cannot be established. As ABTTF, we promise to give full support to our brothers during the establishment process of their associations. Moreover, we have provided the ones, who do not have an association in their nearby place, or whose population in the region they live does not present a majority to establish an association, the possibility to become the member of ABTTF directly. We appeal to all of the Western Thrace Turks first, and then to all of the Muslim-Turkish minority members from Balkans to join this union of strength.”