Police attack on Turkish journalist in Xanthi.

Police attack on Turkish journalist in Xanthi.

A Greek policeman has attacked on Cengiz Ömer, chief editor and holder of Millet newspaper, in front of his home in Xanthi. The event happened on 10 June in the evening. Cengiz Ömer has stopped for a while with his car to leave his mother who is a cardiac patient and then a policeman behind Cengiz Ömer who claimed that his way had been closed got off his car and attacked on Cengiz Ömer. Policeman has attacked on Cengiz Ömer at first then on his mother who is a cardiac patient and his father physically by thundering “Turks out, we don’t want Turks in Greece, go to Turkey”. Cengiz Ömer has been hurted and his mother hospitalized after the attack. After this event Cengiz Ömer made a complaint to the legal authorities.

This is not a disjunctive event.

Cengiz Ömer indicated that this was not a disjunctive event and he said “this is very similar attack to the one which was made on Abdullah Colak, ex-president of Commission of Exhortation and Guidance, I have doubts that this is a coincidence”. He said that some courageous news and comments about the rights of Turkish Minority of Western Thrace have been published on his newspaper in recent times and so, he and his newspaper had been thundered and targeted by Greek press. And he claimed that this attack made on him and his parents is thought provoking in field of tactic and timing.

Public officials make discrimination on Western Thracian Turks.

Halit Habipoglu, the President of Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) made a press release after appearance of this worrying event and he conveyed his afflictions to Cengiz Ömer. Habipoglu said that public officials and especially policemen in Western Thrace carried on their fanatic nationalist behaviours on Western Thracian Turks. Habipoglu said “this attack displays attitudes of po-licemen against Turks. Public officials in Western Thrace show their hates against Turks when they find an opportunity”.

Habipoglu implied that majority society should endeavour to live together with minority society in unision and he said “but a Turkish journalist who defend the rights of Turkish Minority of Western Thrace is under attack. All of us should respect to different identities to discourage these events. We should not let extreme nationalist fanatics remain in the society. The biggest responsibility about this is-sue belongs to Greek society and state officials. If the state engaged members of our Minority as policemen or public officials, we could not face with these kind of worrying events. This event showed that it is time to engage members of our Minority as public officials” and he finished his release.