ABTTF met with the members of the European Parliament in Brussels

The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) paid on 20 October 2015 a working visit to the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels. Accompanied by the ABTTF Brussels Office, ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu and ABTTF Vice-President Mustafa Kasap met with the MEPs Pál Csáky (EPP-Christian Democrats) belonging to the Hungarian minority in Slovakia and Herbert Dorfmann (EPP-Christian Democrats) belonging to the German minority in Italy.

Problems having been faced by and current issues of concern to the Turkish minority of Western Thrace in Greece expressed to the MEPs

The ABTTF delegation first met with MEP Pál Csáky (EPP-Christian Democrats) who held in the past the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European Union Affairs of Slovakia in his office in the EP. ABTTF President Habip Oğlu expressed the problems of the Turkish minority of Western Thrace in the field of freedom of association and referred to the three judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) with regard to the Turkish Union of Xanthi, the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Region of Rodopi and the Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association, which have still not been implemented by Greece. Habip Oğlu set forth the Turkish minority has also been facing serious problems in the field of education, adding tens of primary schools belonging to the minority have been closed one after another by the Greek government and invited Csáky to Western Thrace to observe the said problems on the spot.

During the meeting with the member of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee (AGRI) of the EP Herbert Dorfmann (EPP-Christian Democrats, Habip Oğlu thanked the MEP for his participation in and presentation at the annual congress of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) that was held from 13 to 17 May 2015 in Western Thrace and hosted by the Turkish minority. Habip Oğlu stated although Western Thrace is the most economically underdeveloped region of Greece, it cannot sufficiently benefit from the related funds of the European Union.