ABTTF President: “With the great success of our party in the EP elections, our community delivered a very strong message to those who govern our country, saying ‘We exist, and we are Turks!’ to those who persistently deny our existence and identity in our country. I wholeheartedly congratulate our FEP Party, which made history for the third time in the EP elections’’.
The Friendship Equality Peace (FEP) Party, the only political party and representative of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the political field, once again achieved a historic success in the European Parliament (EP) elections held in Greece on Sunday, 9 June 2024. The FEP Party, which participated in the elections with the slogan ‘‘We are here!’’, became the first party in the prefectures of Rodopi and Xanthi by receiving the most votes in the 2024 EP elections, as in 2014 and 2019.
Participating in the 2024 EP elections with a total of 42 candidates, the FEP Party became the first party in the prefecture of Rodopi with 14,448 votes and a vote rate of 36.10%. In the prefecture of Rodopi, the ruling New Democracy (ND) came second with 19.61% of the votes, and PASOK-KINAL Party came third with 8.87%. The FEP Party became the first party in the prefecture of Xanthi with 11,176 votes and 27.16% of the votes, while ND came second with 20.39% and the main opposition SYRIZA came third with 9.90% of the votes.
The ND became the winner of the 2024 EP elections, where the participation rate in the elections throughout Greece remained at 41.39% and political parties at the right end of the political spectrum showed a huge increase. In Greece, which has 21 seats in the EP, ND exceeded the nationwide threshold of 3 percent with 28.31% of the vote gained 7 seats, SYRIZA with 14.92% of the vote gained 4 seats, PASOK-KINAL with 12.79% of the vote gained 3 seats, the Greek Solution Party with 9.30% of the vote gained 2 seats, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) with 9.25% of the vote gained 2 seats, the Victory Party (NIKI), the Freedom Course Party and the Voice of Logic Party with 4.37%, 3.40% and 3.04% respectively with the percentages of votes obtained 1 seat each.
President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) Halit Habip Oğlu made the following with respect to the historic success of the FEP Party in the 2024 EP Elections: ‘‘After 2014 and 2019, our FEP Party, which became the first party by a large margin by receiving the most votes in the prefectures of Rodopi and Xanthi in the 2024 EP elections, achieved a historical success again. With the great success of our party in the EP elections, our community delivered a very strong message to those who govern our country, saying ‘We exist, and we are Turks!’ to those who persistently deny our existence and identity in our country. The biggest share in the historical success of our party, which has made a difference on the political map of our country for the third time in a row in the EP elections and is the voice of our community, belongs first of all to the leader of our party, and then to our party managers, MEP candidates, members and our community, who support our party with their votes. I wholeheartedly congratulate our FEP Party, which made history for the third time in the EP elections’’.
*Image: Greek Ministry of Interior
