The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) participated in the conference organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) entitled “20 years of the OSCE Copenhagen Document: Status and future perspectives” in Copenhagen on 10-11 June 2010. Fatma Resit, member of ABTTF International Affairs and Lobbying Group and Cemil Kabza, member of Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (BTAYTD), represented the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace at the conference.
Problems of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace were expressed in the session on national minorities
In the session chaired by John Packer, Director of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex, member of ABTTF International Affairs and Lobbying Group Fatma Resit stated that electoral system and/or electoral law had an enormous effect on the full and effective participation of national minorities in political life. Reminding the evaluation of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) that only few states provides for specific rules on the representation of minorities in the elected bodies, Resit discussed the problems regarding the electoral threshold of 3% in Greece and enlarged electoral districts in detail. Resit also stated that restrictive measures on the full and effective political participation of the Turkish Minority on the national and local levels seriously hampered practicing other rights as well, emphasizing the need to form a dialog mechanism between the government and the national minorities.
In the same session, member of BTAYTD Cemil Kabza informed the participants about the legal status of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, calling the Greek authorities to recognize the existence of the Turkish Minority in Greece and to respect collective usage of individual rights. Kabza also demanded Greek authorities to establish an objective and productive dialogue mechanism, expressing the problems of the Turkish Minority regarding the former Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code and the freedom of association of the Turkish Minority.
In the same session, the Permanent Mission of Greece to OSCE took the floor and stated that the Muslim minority in Thrace consisted of three distinct groups whose members were of Turkish, Pomak and Roma origin, adding that Greece satisfied all the rights of all these groups stemming from international treaties and Lausanne Treaty the Permanent Mission of Greece to OSCE demanded the written document to be read to the participants but it should be taken as a document about the minorities living in Greece rather than an answer to the groups participating in the meeting.
The written statements submitted by ABTTF and BTAYTD to the conference are available at:
http://www.osce.org/conferences/copenhagen_20.html?page=documents&author_id=256http://www.osce.org/conferences/copenhagen_20.html?page=documents&author_id=138
The written statement submitted by Greece on the Muslim minority living in Greece is available at:
http://www.osce.org/documents/cio/2010/06/44442_en.pdf
