EN
TR
EL
DE
EN
SUPPORT US
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
TR
EL
DE
EN
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
Name Surname
E-mail
3+4=?
I accept the
privacy policy
terms specified within the scope of the relevant legislation on the personal data protection and share my personal data.
WESTERN THRACE
Overview
Geographical Position
Demography
History
Sociocultural Life
Economy
Tourism
Historical / Architectural Monuments
Quick Tour in Western Thrace
Agriculture
Institutions / Organizations
Europe
Greece
Turkey
Australia
USA
NEWS
ABTTF
Western Thrace
Greece
Europe
President's Column
ACTIVITIES
International
Internal
Member Associations
ABOUT US
Objectives
Statute
Federation
Presidium
Audit Board
Disciplinary Board
Board of Representatives
General Assembly
Our History
History
Presidents
Our Organizations
KEY ISSUES
Educational Autonomy
Religious Autonomy
Identity and Freedom of Association
Article 19
Political Representation
Development
General Situation in Greece
PUBLICATIONS
Reports
Newsletters
Press
GALLERY
IMPRESSUM
CONTACT
SUPPORT US
HEADLINE NEWS
Greece continues to close Turkish primary schools in Western Thrace one by one
14.07.2026
ABTTF President: “The closure of our schools, one by one each year, is the result of a systematic policy designed to gradually erode our educational autonomy. To deprive a community of its schools is to target not only its educational institutions, but also its memory, its language and its future. This is nothing less than the systematic dism...
News article on the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace on a German-language news portal in Italy
10.07.2026
A news article focusing on the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace was published on the German-language news portal Südtirol Online (stol.it) in Italy on 5 July 2026. In a news feature titled “Yes to the minority? Yes, but only if it is their own,” journalist Hatto Schmidt emphasises that Greece’s reaction lays bare i...
The Greek National Commission for Human Rights published its 2025 Annual Report
08.07.2026
ABTTF President: “While the report fails to address minority rights, the systematic rights violations and discrimination faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace have unfortunately also been overlooked. In the written opinion regarding the report that we, as ABTTF, will prepare and present to GNCHR, we will detail the de facto erosion...
The systematic violation of the freedom of association of the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace was raised at the PACE Plenary
03.07.2026
On 23 June 2026, the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) submitted a letter regarding the Court of Appeals of Thrace's rejection of the appeal filed by the Western Thrace Fenerbahçe Cultural and Sports Association—an organisation previously ordered to be dissolved by the Court of First Instance of Rodopi on grounds...
ABTTF brings the issues of the Western Thrace Turks to the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council
03.07.2026
In a written statement submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, ABTTF highlighted that Greece had failed to implement the previous recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) ahead of the review in November 2026, and listed Greece’s violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace. The...
FUEN’s report titled “Educational Situation of Minorities 2025 and Recent Developments’’ has been published
01.07.2026
The report titled “Educational Situation of Minorities 2025 and Recent Developments’’, prepared by the Education Working Group of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), has been published. Prepared based on information provided by member organisations regarding the educational situation of ten national minorities i...
ABTTF brings the educational challenges facing the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace to the international agenda with a study prepared in three languages
29.06.2026
The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) has published a study titled “The Right to Education in Mother Tongue and State Intervention in the Autonomous Education System of the Turkish Community in Western Thrace,” which comprehensively addresses the challenges faced by the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace in the field ...
ABTTF participated in an EP meeting on the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights Report 2025
25.06.2026
The Brussels Office of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) participated in a meeting of the European Parliament’s (EP) Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs (LIBE) held in Brussels. At the meeting, which ABTTF attended as part of its activities in Brussels, the European Union Agency for Fundamen...
In its report on Albania, the European Parliament called for the protection of the rights of the Greek minority
24.06.2026
ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu: “While Greece defends the rights of the Greek minority in Albania, it systematically violates the fundamental rights of the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace within its own borders” At its session held in Strasbourg on 17 June 2026, the European Parliament (EP) Plenary adopted progress reports on th...
Western Thrace Turks who protested against the provocations of the muftis appointed by Greece were sentenced to prison
19.06.2026
ABTTF Başkanı: “As ABTTF, the representative body of the Western Thrace Turks living in Europe, we strongly condemn the court’s unjust prison sentence handed down to four representatives of our minority; we extend our best wishes to them and want them to know that we stand by them at all times”. On 11 October 2024, the then app...
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11