Western Thrace Turks at the 57th Congress of FUEN

ABTTF and BTAYTD together represented the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace at the Congress

The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) participated from 16 to 20 May 2012 in the Russian capital city of Moscow in the 57th Congress of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN). A delegation consisted of Halit Habipoğlu, President of ABTTF, Cengiz İsmail, Vice-Chairman of ABTTF, Özkan Reşit, Secretray General of ABTTF, Sami Yusuf, member of the ABTTF Executive Board and Aydın Ahmet, member of the Audit Board of the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (BTAYTD) and Executive Assistant and Advisor to the President of the political party Friendship, Equality and Peace (DEB), represented the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace at the Congress hosted by the association of the Germans in Russia Internationaler Verband der Deutschen Kultur (IVDK).

170 representatives from 30 minorities living in Europe came together in Moscow

The official opening ceremony of the 57th Congress of FUEN was held on 17 May 2012 in the German-Russian House. Among others, Ralf-René Weingärtner, Director for Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination at the Council of Europe, Csaba Tabajdi MEP, Co-Chair of the Intergroup for Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages, and Iuliu Winkler MEP participated in the Congress. MEP Winkler made a presenation on the European Citizen’s Initiative. The FUEN members welcomed the idea of starting a campaign in collaboration with the Minority Intergroup to collect 1 million signatures and FUEN was urged to continue working actively on its realisation.

The problems of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace brought on the agenda of the Assembly of Delegates of FUEN

At the Assembly of Delegates of FUEN, the highest decision-making body of the organisation, ABTTF and BTAYTD submitted jointly a draft resolution and a draft statement related to the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace. In the draft resolution, ABTTF and BTAYTD stated the right of the Turkish minority to freedom of association has been violated by Greece and despite the three judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Greece in this issue, the minority associations carrying the word “Turkish” in their titles have been dissolved or the new ones have not been registered. ABTTF and BTAYTD called upon the Greek State to guarantee the effective enjoyment of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace of its right to freedom of association without discrimination of any kind and fully implement the ECtHR judgments related to the minority. On the other hand, ABTTF and BTAYTD underlined in the draft statement the right to education of the Turkish minority, mentioned the problems in the minority education system in Greece and also put forward solution proposals for these problems. Both the regarding draft resolution and the draft statement were adopted by the Assembly of Delegates of FUEN.

Four new member organizations

At the Assembly of Delegates of FUEN, the applications for membership of the Association of the Carinthian Slovenes SKS, the Croatian Centre of Burgenland Croats from Vienna the BarsEL of Balkars-Karachay and the EBLUL Member State Committee Germany were also admitted.